Russian, German leaders vow to strengthen bilateral ties

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 10, 2003

Russian, German leaders vow to strengthen bilateral ties

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have pledged to further expand bilateral relations during their two-day meetings in Russia's Uralcity of Yekaterinburg.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have pledged to further expand bilateral relations during their two-day meetings in Russia's Uralcity of Yekaterinburg. At a press conference Thursday following Russian-German summit, Putin said Russia has reached a national consensus on necessity of development relations with Germany.

Putin said he and Schroeder have agreed "to set up an interdepartmental working group for fighting international terrorism, for non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and for opposing drug threat".

Schroeder, in his turn, said economic prosperity and security would be "unachievable" without Russia in building a common Europe.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his German counterpart Joschka Fischer signed Thursday an agreement on the transit of German troops and cargo through Russia to Afghanistan.

The two sides also signed agreements on simplification of the travel procedures for their citizens; on German assistance in the elimination of Russian decommissioned nuclear weapons; and on expanded cooperation between their rail systems and cultural ties to foster the study of each other's languages.

Germany is Russia's leading trade and economic partner. The Russian-German trade amounted to 24.7 billion euros (29 billion US dollars) in 2002 and the turnover hit 11.8 billion euros (13.4 billion US dollars) in the first half of 2003.

In the meetings with Russian and German business leaders, Putin urged Germany, which is the biggest foreign investor in Russia, to support his country in its bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Putin blamed the current deadlock situation in negotiations on Russia's WTO membership on the European Union, which demanded Russia to increase domestic energy prices to world levels.

If Russia, complying with the EU demand, is to raise its energy prices, its economy will "collapse", Putin warned.

"The EU bureaucrats either fail to understand it or want to impede Russia's accession to the WTO," Putin said.

Putin insisted that the issue over energy prices should be done "gradually" and resolved "not within the framework of Russia's accession to WTO".

Putin described as unacceptable the demand of the European Commission on using the Russian gas pipeline network outside Russia as one of the conditions for Russia joining the WTO.

During the two-day meetings, Putin and Schroeder also discussed the situation in Iraq. Putin expressed his belief that the UN Security Council would approve a new resolution on Iraq before a donors conference in Spain.

"We would like very much to reach an agreement on the UN Security Council resolution before that conference," Putin said. "Of course Iraq needs funds, but they can only be used efficiently if a political settlement is reached," he added.

Russia and Germany along with France are main European opponents to the US-led military operation in Iraq. But the three nations stood for a greater role of the United Nations in Iraq's post-war reconstruction.

He said Russia would attend the donors conference as an observer.

During the meetings Putin told the audience that Russia reserves the right to deliver preventive strikes.

"If the practice of preemptive strikes is expanded and strengthened in the world, Russia will reserve the right to take such actions as well," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Schroeder arrived in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday to attend the summit consultations, which have been held annually since 1998.

Questions?Comments? Click here

URGENT: France, Russia, Germany Adopt "Common Declaration" on Iraq

Russia, France, Germany Stress UN Role in Post-war Iraq

Russia, Germany Strongly Condemn Suicide Bombings in Jerusalem, Hebron

Arnold Schwarzenegger Wins ( 2 Messages)

Work easier for Cupid in China as new marriage rules take effect ( 2 Messages)

Report: China to launch manned space flight on Oct. 15 ( 8 Messages)

China gives strategic priority to education: minister ( 4 Messages)

US export controls on China unwise: Int'l Finance News ( 2 Messages)