Official website of the President of Russia

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The message reads, in part:

“That federal land with its industrial ‘heart’ – Ruhr – is well known in Russia as a region with a highly developed industrial, scientific, technological and cultural potential and an initiator of good-neighbourly mutually beneficial business relations with our country.

The Rhine area has long and successfully cooperated with the Russian regions. Partnership contacts with the land are maintained by the Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, and Samara Regions. Two dozen twin cities are interacting intensively and in a diversified manner at the municipal level. A solid foundation has been created for the further growth of interregional trade, deeper cooperation in the industrial sphere, in the field of high technologies and science. This is greatly aided by the strengthening of Russian economic operators, including small and medium-sized businesses. The Russian companies Aeroflot and Pulkovo Airlines have established a presence in the world air carriage market.

Cooperation with Northern Rhine-Westphalia is important as part of the broader dialogue between Russia and the European Union, including in the energy field. Gazprom and Ruhrgas have been cooperating fruitfully for decades.

In this connection I would like to note the importance of the awareness among the business circles of the significance of promoting humanitarian, cultural and scientific links. The participation of the company Ruhrgas in the restoration of the Amber Room, which was inaugurated during the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg, is a concrete example of such a contribution to cultural cooperation.

Like Russia, the North Rhine-Westphalia is a multinational and multi-religious land where thousands of our fellow countrymen live. They are actively involved in bringing Russia and Germany closer together, in cultural, youth and student exchanges and the spread of the Russian language.”