Newsletter 2013/04/08 – Partner Nation Russia
HANNOVER (Own report) – The German Chancellor and the Russian
President attended yesterday’s opening of the annual Hannover Industry
Trade Fair. This year, Russia was the fair’s chosen “partner nation,”
a move to help promote German-Russian economic relations. The German
Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations announced a
German-Russian economic summit to be held today. Since the SPD/Green
coalition government encouraged the economic cooperation ten years
ago, the trade volume has grown from 15.1 billion Euros in 1998 to
more than 80 billion in 2012 – to Germany’s advantage. Germany is
ensuring its access to energy resources from Russia’s huge deposits,
while also tapping into the lucrative market for the German
export-oriented industry. The German industry needs this market, since
its sales to the southern Euro zone are tapering off, due to the
economic crisis. Berlin is also seeking to boost this cooperation
because of China’s growing influence in Russia. Moscow and Beijing are
not only planning to expand their bilateral economic relations, they
are also increasing their political and military cooperation – at the
expense of Western hegemony, as seen from the German perspective.
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