Chancellor Schroeder to discuss economic interaction in Moscow

The key issue on the agenda of the visit of Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to Moscow is the advancement of Russo-German economic co-operation, said a source in the Kremlin.

Schroeder will come to Moscow on a one-day working visit on Thursday July 8. He and President Vladimir Putin expect to analyse the fulfilment of agreements in various spheres of bilateral co-operation reached during the latest interstate consultations in Yekaterinburg in October 2003, and to prepare for the 7th round of consultations to be held in Hamburg in early September.

According to the Kremlin source, during their fourth meeting this year, the two leaders will discuss Russo-German interaction on the world scene, including in the UN Security Council and other international structures. They will also analyse the work of the bilateral high-level working group on security, created at the Yekaterinburg summit, and outstanding foreign policy issues, such as the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Besides, they will speak about facilitating Russia-EU relations, the implementation of the decisions, of the Russia-EU May summit, and European security.

Germany is the leading foreign economic partner of Russia; it accounts for about 10% of Russian foreign trade (mutual trade topped $18 bln in 2003) and about 18% of the overall volume of foreign investments in Russia.

The joint efforts of the sides are mostly focused on methods of encouraging investment interaction and production co-operation, above all in hi-tech and science-intensive branches, and on the task of raising economic co-operation to a higher level that would correspond to the economic potential of the two countries.

In this connection, Russia and Germany spotlight the forum on high technologies and the Energy Summit of their leading concerns planned for this autumn.