Medvedev on economic quest to Germany
16 July, 2009, 13:47
Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Munich to discuss bilateral trade, economic co-operation, and energy security with Chancellor Angel Merkel later on Thursday.
Kremlin aide Sergey Prikhodko informed journalists that Russia and Germany are ready to sign a €500 million ($706 million) credit agreement to finance joint projects, primarily in mechanical engineering.
"A credit agreement is expected to be signed between the Vnesheconombank state-run corporation and Germany's KfW Ipex-Bank," said Prikhodko.
The Russian President and German Chancellor will also discuss the issue of a joint bid for German carmaker Opel by an international consortium of Austrian-Canadian auto supplies company Magna and Russia's largest bank, Sberbank.
Prikhodko said, "We will call on them to support the deal. We will also voice our support for it.”
On May 30, Berlin agreed to support the Magna International and Sberbank consortium to take over Opel, currently owned by US car giant General Motors. Russian truck maker GAZ, owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, is prepared to act as industrial partner.
But now it looks like OPEL's parent company GM is considering offers from other contenders, including China's Beijing Automotive.
The two leaders will also discuss Nord Stream, the new joint multi-billion dollar undersea pipeline to pump gas into Europe.
It will run under the Baltic Sea directly from Russia to Germany, so that the fuel can avoid using transit countries.
Also, German engineering giant Siemens AG and Russia’s rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZD) are set to sign an agreement to establish a joint venture for the production of a new generation of locomotives.
The parties are also expected to sign a memorandum of understanding to modernize Pulkovo airport in Russia's Northern capital of St. Petersburg.
On a more global scale, Medvedev and Merkel are also expected to talk about North Korea, Iran and last week's G8 summit in Italy.
Medvedev says Russia not jealous of Nabucco
MUNICH, July 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is not jealous of the Nabucco natural gas pipeline project, President Dmitry Medvedev said at a joint news conference after talks with the German leader on Thursday.
The Western-backed Nabucco project, estimated at 7.9 billion euros ($11 billion), is designed to pump Central Asian gas via Turkey to Austria and Germany through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, bypassing Russia.
"We are not jealous of Nabucco. Let it develop. If gas goes to Nabucco, then somebody clearly needs it, but nobody has made it clear to me where will it pump gas from," the Russian president said.
Medvedev said Russia favored safe and diversified energy supplies based on current contracts.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as strategic the Nord Stream pipeline Germany and Russia are building jointly under the Baltic Sea.
"This [Nord Stream] project should not be considered a rival to other pipelines," Merkel told reporters.
Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary signed on Monday an intergovernmental agreement on the transit of Caspian gas to Europe. The sixth partner, Germany, did not sign the deal, since it is not a transit country.
Europe has expressed concern about its reliance on Russia, which meets a quarter of its gas needs. Calls for diversified supplies intensified following a bitter price dispute between Moscow and Kiev in early 2009, when Russia cut off gas to Ukraine, affecting consumers across Europe.
Moscow argues that South Stream and Nord Stream would reduce EU dependence on transit states like Ukraine and improve European energy security.
The 6 billion-euro Nord Stream pipeline is planned to eventually pump 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Western Europe, bypassing traditional transit nations.
The South Stream project is designed to annually pump 31 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and onto other European countries, with the pipeline's capacity expected to be eventually increased to 63 billion cubic meters.
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