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Putin hunts for deals in Germany's economic powerhouse
By Dario Thuburn
AFP
MUNICH
Petroleumworld.com 10 12 06
Russian President Vladimir Putin hunted for business deals on Wednesday in Germany's economic powerhouse, Bavaria, as part of a bid by Russia to woo the country with investment offers.
"It's logical that the main theme for our talks will be strengthening trade and economic links," Putin said on Tuesday, referring to planned meetings with Bavarian political and business leaders.
The visit is part of a concerted attempt by Putin to strengthen business links with Germany by holding out the prospect of increased energy supplies in exchange for access to European markets.
"From being a major consumer of Russian energy products, Germany can become a major centre for their distribution... The German economy has an interest in this," Putin said after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel in Dresden on Tuesday.
During his visit, the Russian leader has offered to route gas supplies from Shtokman, the world's largest gas field, to Europe through Germany. Russian and German officials have also signed off deals in aerospace and banking this week.
On Wednesday, Germany's Siemens announced it had signed a deal for 450 million euros (564 million dollars) with Russian holding Renova to carry out infrastructure projects in Russia.
In Munich, Putin will meet with Bavaria's powerful minister-president Edmund Stoiber, head of the Christian Social Union party and other key officials, including German Economy Minister Michael Glos.
Putin is travelling with a delegation including Economy Minister German Gref, Oleg Deripaska, chief of aluminium giant Rusal, and Alexei Mordashov, head of steel firm Severstal.
The meetings are set to take place in the luxurious Residenz palace complex in central Munich, which was started in the 14th century, and will include meetings between Putin and local academic and business leaders.
Russia has renewed confidence because it is cash rich from oil and gas exports, given relatively high global prices, while Germany's economy is struggling to carry out much-needed reforms under Merkel.
The Russian leader also held out an offer of "full cooperation" with troubled European jetmaker EADS, whose chief executive resigned this week and in which a Russian state bank now holds a five-percent stake.
But the fallout from the killing on Saturday of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death has sparked outrage at the state of press freedom in Russia, continues to cast a shadow over Putin's visit.
Members of the Green party, who were due to attend an informal dinner later Wednesday in a Munich restaurant, have pulled out in protest over the killing and have announced a demonstration outside the Residenz complex.
Merkel has expressed shock at Politkovskaya's murder. "The freedom of those who report and write is an important aspect of countries where democracy is developing," she said.
Putin called the murder an "appalling" crime "that cannot go unpunished".
But, he added, Politkovskaya's "ability to influence political life in Russia was extremely insignificant."
Merkel, who hails from the former Soviet-controlled East Germany, has said she will pursue a tougher foreign policy lines on Russia in contrast to her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, who enjoyed close relations with Putin.
Putin has sought to focus his visit to Germany on business links, particularly with an eye on investment projects that give Russian companies access to foreign markets.
In April, German chemicals giant BASF and Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom conducted an asset swap that gave BASF a 35 percent stake in the Yuzhno-Ruskoye natural gas field.
Gazprom increased its interest in the Wingas joint venture to 50 percent minus one share, giving the Russian company the access to selling and marketing natural gas in Europe that it has long desired.
Bavaria accounts for 14.4 percent of the trade turnover between Russia and Germany, which is Russia's largest trading partner, and almost a third of investments in Russia, the official said.
Trade turnover between the two countries reached 32.9 billion dollars in 2005 and grew 30.6 in the first six months of 2006 compared to the same period last year, according to Russian figures.
AFP 11 1056 GMT 10 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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