The exchange of opinions, which was marked by the businesslike and frank approach characteristic of the Russian-German political dialogue, touched upon practical issues of Russian-German relations.

During the meeting, Mr Shuvalov and Mr Steinmeier made a profound review of the diversified bilateral trade and economic ties, and considered the prospects of further increasing them.

The two men paid particular attention to expanding cooperation in hi-tech areas; innovation development in Russia and Germany; transition from traditional forms of interaction focused on trade to large-scale cooperation in science, technology-, production and investment; the need to increase the number of signal projects oriented towards creating jobs; greater returns from cooperation for the social sphere in the two countries.