During his visit, the first deputy prime minister met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and also held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation Maxime Varhagen.
Viktor Zubkov said the following about the results of the visit:
“We discussed key aspects of Russian and Dutch economic cooperation. We discussed our joint efforts to implement bilateral and multilateral economic and investment projects and drew up plans to further increase our cooperation.
“Today, Russian-Dutch cooperation is productive and marked by a positive trend. The Netherlands continue to hold the leading positions in trade and investments in the Russian economy. Bilateral trade totaled $47.5 billion in January-October 2010, which is $7.5 billion more than last year’s total. Investment increased ten times over in the period 2002-2010, and in the first six months of the year the figure stood at $43.3 billion, including $15.7 billion in direct investment.
“That being said, we still have potential to increase the size and scope of our cooperation, first and foremost in the energy sphere, which has already become a traditional one. Our experience of working together to implement major projects such as the Nord Stream and the world's largest natural-gas liquefaction plants in the Sakhalin Island can help us in projects for the joint development of oil and gas deposits in the Yamal Peninsula and the Kara Sea. The achievements made by Philips’ specialists in energy conservation and energy efficiency have already been used in pilot projects for developing Rostov-on-Don’s infrastructure and the poultry enterprises of Russia’s EURODON. Signing a revised memorandum of understanding on energy efficiency and the establishment of Russian-Dutch center for energy efficiency and innovations will promote cooperation in this field.
“Our priorities are to expand our partnership in the fields of innovation, bioenergy, agri-business, transport and transport infrastructure, medicine and pharmaceuticals.
“We encourage the participation of Philips in creating the Skolkovo innovation hub, which will culminate in the development and production of high-tech medical equipment in Russia.
“Russia needs the vast experience and considerable potential of Dutch specialists to design hydrotechnical facilities, and update and repair transport infrastructure in those 13 towns that will host the 2018 World Cup.
“These are just a few of the issues we have discussed today. We will examine those and other issues at the Russian-Dutch Business Forum to be held in the Netherlands in February, and at the meeting of the bilateral Mixed Commission for Economic Cooperation, which will be held in the second quarter of next year. We have also agreed to hold specialised business seminars on certain aspects of bilateral cooperation such as bioenergy, agriculture, fishery, transport and infrastructure.
“I believe we have set a good tempo, thanks to which we will be able to fully implement the fifth Joint Action Programme between the Russian Federation and the Netherlands for 2011-2013, which we will have to approve soon.”
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During his visit, Viktor Zubkov has also visited greenhouse farms owned by the company Prominent, where he had a look at innovative Dutch technology for growing greenhouse vegetables.