German-Russian week to be held in Novosibirsk next year

A German-Russian week will be held in Novosibirsk in 2004. An agreement was reached yesterday during a meeting between German Ambassador to Russia Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz and First Deputy Presidential Plenipotentiary for the Siberian Federal District Igor Prostyakov.

According to Mr von Ploetz, 2003 is being celebrated as the year of Russian culture in Germany. The book fair in Frankfurt was one event devoted to this cause. Mr von Ploetz stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had agreed that 2004 would be the year of German culture in Russia, when they met in Yekaterinburg recently.

Mr Prostyakov encouraged said these events must also be used to develop business ties between the two countries and he outlined some possible areas of integration between regions in the Siberian Federal District and the German regions.