3 february 2009

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Siemens AG CEO Peter Loescher

Vladimir Putin

Meeting with Siemens AG CEO Peter Loescher

Participants:
"We are ready to switch from the implementation of individual projects, which we have carried out successfully, to full-scale partnership between Siemens and our company, Rosatom. We could actively work both in Russia and Germany, and in the markets of other countries."

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting: 

Vladimir Putin: Mr Loscher and colleagues, I'm very pleased to be meeting with you in Moscow.

Quite recently, we saw each other in St Petersburg during the launch of the October Railway's first high-speed train. This is also a landmark event in Siemens' cooperation with Russian companies. We are very glad that Siemens is expanding its presence in Russia.

Our economic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany have been making steady headway, and grew by 40% in the past year. Our trade is about $60 billion in value terms. Your company is making a tangible contribution to this cooperation.

I consider it very important that you are holding an extended Management Board meeting not simply abroad but in Moscow. Our cooperation covers transport, machine building, and power generation. As for power generation, it includes the electric power industry and will probably include new directions in the nuclear power industry.

We have already developed a good working relationship in this sphere. We are ready to switch from the implementation of individual projects, which we have carried out successfully, to full-scale partnership between Siemens and our company, Rosatom. We could actively work both in Russia and Germany, and in the markets of other countries.

I'm very glad to see you; once again, welcome.

Peter Loescher (as translated): Mr Prime Minister, I'm grateful for this opportunity to meet with you today.

In Davos, you made a very clear speech and accentuated all the right points. You said that we are in a global crisis that requires global responses based on cooperation and partnership.

Today, we are holding an extended Management Board meeting in Moscow. This is the first time that such an extended session is being held outside Germany. We have decided to do this so as to emphasize our readiness for cooperation and as a sign of mutual trust. This shows that we are ready to step up our cooperation and further intensify our presence in Russia during the crisis - by this, I mean full-scale partnership between Russia and Germany, as well as between our company and our Russian partners.

I'd like to thank you personally and the Russian Government for the trust you have put in our company in planning further development of cooperation in the power industry, particularly in the nuclear power industry.

Considering our long-standing relationship, I'd suggest setting up a working group between our company and the Rosatom Corporation to discuss all possible types of cooperation and make concrete decisions as soon as possible, maybe even before the end of April.

Vladimir Putin: Rosatom top managers have reported to me about mutual interest in expanding cooperation. As far as I understand, this process is one hundred percent mutually beneficial.

As for Davos, I spoke there not only on my own behalf but also on our common behalf, because I had heard many of the statements I made there before not only from Russian businessmen but also from their European, in particular German, colleagues. A return to the natural economic values, to the real costs of assets, is what our German partners and their Russian counterparts want.

Rosatom, Siemens, and your other partners in Russia are major companies in the sphere of real production. We will do all we can to facilitate the implementation of your projects.