Russian-German summit reaps dividends

An agreement between the Foreign Trade Bank and Deutsche Bank was signed last week during the Russian-German talks here. As reported to Rosbalt by the information department of the Sverdlovsk Region governor's office, Deutsche Bank has agreed to invest in Russian residential mortgage investment programs and give support to small business. The size of the investments has not been made public.

A number of other contracts were signed. The medical holding, YUNONA, and the German firm Bosch signed a contract worth Euro 8 million for deliveries of technical equipment for the construction in Novouralsk of a plant to produce genetically engineered insulin.

In the view of Arkady Volsky, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the figure of Euro 500 million given by Eduard Rossel, the governor of Sverdlovsk Region, as the possible total of investments in the region, very much underestimated Germany's potential. In Volsky's opinion, the Central Urals alone can count on investments of Euro 1.5 billion. For purposes of comparison, that is the figure for all trade between Russia and Germany in the period from January through June of 2003.