Published: November 17th, 2015

Russian-German session of the Moscow Economic Forum on the subject of "Russian-German Economic Relations: Present and Future" started

A moderator of the session, Falk Tischendorf, Managing Partner of the Moscow office of BEITEN BURKHARDT law firm, is confident that the need of modernization and diversification of Russian economy is particularly great due to the complicated economic situation. "In spite of some changes in relations between certain Western countries and Russia, after talking to many German and Russian businessmen, colleagues and friends I see that businessmen today are not only interested in development of cooperation, but they are also seeking it", he said.

According to Mr. Tischendorf, in the last few years Russian-German partnership has grown and strengthened, but it is time to find out what pressure these relations can withstand, what responsibility is placed on business today and whether business community should take an active role in the difficult situation to find common ways of solving the issue. He pointed out, "If we fail to start acting now, we may lose the relations that have been built with so much effort and, at the same time, miss an opportunity to overcome the crisis."

In the opinion of Wolfgang Clement, former Federal Minister of Economics and Labor of the Federal Republic of Germany and former Premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, our countries are undergoing the hardest crisis in relations of late, "Our relations are very difficult and to rectify the situation major efforts of all parties will be needed. In these conditions the question is whether the economy on the basis of the high level of development of relations between our two countries will be able to make its contribution to the cause of overcoming this crisis and whether it will be able to do so in spite of the sanctions introduced by the West and the countermeasures adopted by Russia. This is the question that we are facing today on a full scale. I strongly believe that no one in Russia as well as in Germany and entire European Union is interested in revival of the cold war. In this regard I would like to use this opportunity to address economic leaders of our countries, as already mentioned by Mr. Tischendorf, and ask that they do not consider themselves solely as targets and, to certain extent, victims of the political crisis, but do something themselves, take the initiative and not allow any suppression of their business activities by the political crisis. And we have good reasons to try and fulfill these goals, these economic goals."

Konstantin Babkin, Co-chairman of the Moscow Economic Forum, said that economy and interests of ordinary people formed the basis of politics, which was why much also depended on representatives of business, industry and agriculture, "We live in difficult times, when our politicians, politicians of our countries communicate in the language of sanctions. All this worries both Russian and German citizens, all this affects business as well as our future. This is why today Russian-German relations, or in a broader sense, Russian-European relations are, I believe, a matter of concern for millions of people in our countries. And the current state cannot last for long." In his speech Mr. Babkin said that at the moment a wall was being artificially built between the East and the West on the border between Ukraine and Russia; in the modern world such walls were a counterproductive thing, which was why we, businessmen, should influence our politicians.

Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, called Germany a serious and time-tested partner with which Russia had manufacturing, technological, investment and, finally, sociocultural relations. Mr. Manturov said, "Our objective is not to drift with the flow of political climate, which, as we all know, is prone to rapid changes. Our goal and, I am sure, the goal of German partners is to create, produce and jointly implement industrial projects in the interests of the two countries."

Mr. Manturov observed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation was ready to assist German partners in implementation of projects in Russia and support them. At the moment the Government of the Russian Federation was taking the most active measures aimed at creation of comfortable conditions to do business in Russia and improvement of the investment climate. An important stage of development of Russian industry was adoption of the law "On Industrial Policy", which implemented a number of new tools for support of creation of new production facilities and modernization of the existing ones.