Rossiiskaya Gazeta: "Twin Provinces"
A delegation from Saxony will visit Kaluga Region and Tatarstan.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met the Minister-President of the Free State of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich, on Tuesday.
Mr Tillich marked his 50th birthday about ten days ago, but Vladimir Putin thought he could not afford to stand aside from such an event. "I would like to give you a small, but very nice and memorable present", the Russian Prime Minister smiled handing over a miniature in a velvet casket. The free state of Saxony had also given Mr. Putin a memorable present in January 2009 when the people of Dresden celebrated the so-called "the most beautiful night of the year". Overnight Mr Tillikh decorated the Russian Prime Minister with the Order of Gratitude for his personal contribution to developing cultural exchanges. Dresden, which the Prime Minister knows well, was a frequent stop during his visits, for example, in 2001, in 2006 and most recently this year. The envoy of "Florence on the Elbe" seemed to stir up Putin's memories of his youth.
"This is your first visit to Moscow. I hope it is not the last one," said the Russian Prime Minister looking trustingly at his colleague. "You lead a large delegation of business people. You have ambitious plans for the development of cooperation. The federal Government, I assure you, will always support you to the best of its ability."
Russia has a soft spot for German business. Mr Tillich's delegation will visit Kaluga Region and Tatarstan with which Saxony has cooperation agreements. In Kazan the Germans expect to sign an agreement on establishing an Engineering Competence Centre. Also, Mr Tillich planned to meet with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov yesterday.
Trade in January-September, 2008 amounted to some 2 billion euros, with Russian imports accounting for two-thirds of it. The biggest participants in bilateral cooperation are Gazprom and the Leipzig-based concern Verbundnetz Gas which have agreements on scientific-technical cooperation and joint public relations work. However, the Prime Minister of Saxony also displayed a thorough knowledge of nuclear energy.
"We are interested in the new development of the research centre in Rossendorf and the Dubna institute, a technology of treating metal compounds in nuclear reactors to extend their service life by 30, 40 and even 50 years", Stanislaw Tillikh told his stunned interlocutor.
"I am glad to hear it", Vladimir Putin replied and went on to explain that "although Germany is not developing nuclear energy, it does not ignore this sector".
The Prime Minister mentioned the relations between the Rosatom State Corporation and the German company Siemens which "without exaggeration have a strategic character". The Russian Government recently decided on additional capitalisation of Rosatom. This year federal investments in the nuclear sphere will reach 130 billion roubles, Mr Putin said. That piece of news seemed to give Mr Tillich food for thought. After a pause, he said:
"I can merely express my respect for such a strategy because energy sources and minerals will naturally diminish and their price will grow. So, accumulating them in advance is surely the right decision".
While supporting German business, Vladimir Putin does not forget Russian entrepreneurs. At a meeting with Sberbank President German Greff the Prime Minister inquired about the timeframe and the mechanism of the issue of micro-credits to small businesses. "We will start issuing microcredits to small businesses of up to 1 million roubles in Moscow tomorrow", said Mr Gref, adding that the system of loans would spread to Central Russia in June, and throughout the country before the end of the year. The head of Sberbank explained that approvals of loans would take no more than 5 days, whereas at present the procedure takes about a month. Mr Gref said that decisions on issuing loans would be taken by two persons independently of each other - one of them reviewing the documents and the other talking directly to the client.
Regarding mortgage loans, Sberbank issued 16.5 billion roubles worth of them in the first quarter of 2009. However, the biggest bank in Central and Eastern Europe, far from losing, is gaining liquidity. Households deposited more than 30 billion roubles with the bank in March and the first half of April, the second month of steady inflow of deposits, Mr Gref pointed out. "The share of dollar deposits dropped significantly, while the share of the euro against the dollar increased slightly, the President of Sberbank said. After the strengthening of the rouble we see a strong trend of growing rouble deposits."
In conclusion German Gref said that the bank would not need additional capitalisation, at least not in the spring and summer of this year. He admitted that "there may be problems with capital in the banking sector, but as far as Sberbank is concerned, we will do our best to move through the year without losses". The bank's net profits in 2008 stood at almost 110 billion roubles.
Moscow issue
Pierre Sidibe
