Mr Zubkov met with German President Christian Wulff and attended a gala reception given on Mr Wulff's behalf in honour of the participants of the 11th meeting of Russian and German partner cities. Mr Zubkov read President Dmitry Medvedev's message of greeting. Agreements on the establishment of sister-city relations were signed in the presence of Mr Zubkov and Mr Wulff between the cities of Baden-Baden and Sochi, Duren and Mytishchi, and Zarrentin and Murino.

While in Berlin, Mr Zubkov and Mr Lothar de Maiziere co-chaired a meeting of the Petersburg Dialogue coordination committee.

"Today we have discussed a number of issues pertaining to the 11th meeting of the Petersburg Dialogue forum, and its preparations. The meeting will be held on July 17-19 in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The theme of this year's Petersburg Dialogue will be 'Citizens, society and the state as partners in modernisation'. The working groups will also discuss other themes – migration, integration, personal freedom as key to German and Russian modernisation policies, the preservation of limited natural resources and environmental protection as a guarantee for the future of modernisation, and social partnership as an essential part of economic and administrative modernisation. I am confident that the discussion of these themes by Petersburg Dialogue will help to launch new initiatives in the cooperation of the two countries' civil societies. Such cooperation is necessary for the further development of a Russian-German partnership," Zubkov said to summarise the meeting.

Lyudmila Verbitskaya, the president of St Petersburg State University, and the heads of several forum working groups, including ITAR-TASS General Director Vitaly Ignatenko, took part in the events during the visit.

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Petersburg Dialogue was established in 2001 on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Germany's Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Petersburg Dialogue is a forum to discuss current social issues and the problems of German-Russian relations. It promotes German-Russian understanding and the further development of all-round bilateral cooperation as its principal goals.

The forum involves community and youth activists from Russia and Germany, and holds its meetings every year under the patronage of the Russian president and the German federal chancellor.

Petersburg Dialogue is governed by its coordination committee, which is responsible for the planning, thematic preparation and management of annual meetings.

First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov chairs the Russian coordination committee, and Lothar de Maiziere its German counterpart.