Berlin und Moskau in St. Petersburg 2019

St. Petersburg (dpa) - Germany and Russia have signed a joint document on closer economic cooperation for the first time in years, despite continued political tensions.

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) and his Russian colleague Maxim Oreschkin signed a letter of intent for an efficiency partnership at the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. What this means is that German technologies should help to make the often backward Russian economy - for example, with new machines - afloat for the future.

"Of course, the unresolved issues are always like a white elephant in the room," said Altmaier after the signing of the declaration. But the paper sets a framework for cooperation. At the same time, he emphasized that EU sanctions against Russia persisted because of the conflict in Ukraine, "as long as the reasons for that were not eliminated". The point is that the EU expects the new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj to implement the peace plan for the conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine Donbass.

"The conflicts have led to a huge decline in growth in the European-Russian relationship," said Altmaier. "That's why we want to intensify this cooperation as much as possible," he said. Altmaier recalled that he recently opened a Daimler plant near Moscow. "There are large investment projects of other German companies," he said, but gave no details. He wants to work to ensure that German investments in Russia get the necessary security.

Petersburg Business Forum: Berlin and Moscow want to strengthen economic partnership
2019-06-07

Berlin und Moskau wollen Wirtschaftspartnerschaft stärken