Germany Remains Priority Trade Partner For Russia In EU - Russian Deputy Minister

Trade and economic relations between Russia and Germany have always been special and for Russia and Germany remains an absolute priority as a partner in the EU, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Azer Talybov said on Wednesday.

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) Trade and economic relations between Russia and Germany have always been special and for Russia and Germany remains an absolute priority as a partner in the EU, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Azer Talybov said on Wednesday.

"Trade and economic relations between Russia and Germany have always been special and for us and Germany remains an absolute priority as a partner in the EU. It is important to note the figures that define the current state of our bilateral relations. Almost $44 billion in 2018, trade increased by 24.7 percent, and it is particularly gratifying to note that Russian exports increased by almost 40 percent," Talybov told reporters in Berlin.

On Wednesday, Talybov took part in the 38th meeting of Russian-German high-level working group on strategic economic and financial cooperation in Berlin. The German delegation was headed by State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Ulrich Nussbaum.

The deputy minister noted the rise in the tourism industry, stressing that the growth of tourist flow from Germany to Russia had significantly grown almost by 10 percent.

According to Talybov, the agenda of the meeting included a wide range of issues of mutual interest, such as cooperation in the area of small and medium-sized businesses, creation of favorable conditions for business, removal of administrative barriers.

He said that currently the total volume of German investments in Russia amounted to more than $18 billion. In the first two quarters of 2018 the inflow of direct German investments amounted to $241 million. He highlighted that this amount had indicated the interest of German business in the Russian market. The volume of Russian investments in Germany had amounted to $8-9 billion as of June 1, 2018, Talybov added.

The participants also touched upon such issues as the localization of German manufacturing in Russia, primarily in the field of mechanical engineering, and talked about proposals for increasing Russia's investment attractiveness, enhancing cooperation in such areas as digitalization, implementation of infrastructure projects in the field of high-speed rail services, waste management, introduction of resource efficiency practices.

The working group was established in June 2000. Its last meeting took place on June 27, 2018, in Moscow.