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Vladimir Putin: Dear Prime Minister, dear colleagues. First of all I would like to thank you for the invitation and to express my most sincere gratitude to all those who participated in the ceremony of this colourful meeting. Just now I saw a great many people in national costumes, children who met us, and a small children’s orchestra. People came from various places. This was a really impressive and very colourful performance. Mr Prime Minister, I would like to thank you and all of our friends in Bavaria for this warm reception.

To some degree our meeting today is unique. First, because it is taking place somewhere that is so important for Bavaria, namely the residence of the Bavarian kings. This is a remarkable castle, simply excellent. And in one year we will celebrate the 200 th anniversary of the foundation of the Bavarian Kingdom. Secondly, because the last similar high-level Russian-Bavarian meeting took place in 1838, and Russian Tsar Nikolai the First was here.

I would like to use this opportunity to congratulate on your 65 th birthday which took place very recently or just a short time ago. You celebrated this occasion recently. I wish you further successes in your work. You have been Bavaria’s leader already for a long time now and we are pleased to see that Bavaria is developing steadily. I am aware that not only myself but all of my colleagues know you as a convinced supporter of the intensive development of the strategic partnership between Russia and Germany. For that reason we are especially pleased to exchange opinions since many significant events have taken place both in Germany and in Russia since our last meeting in Moscow, in 2002. And, thank God, most of these changes have been positive ones.

I hope to see you in Moscow. I know about your plans to visit Russia and Moscow. Bavaria and Moscow have developed special ties throughout the past fifteen years. In these last years a very intensive and trusting Russian-German dialogue has been underway. I met yesterday with the Federal Chancellor, Ms Merkel, in Dresden for what is already our fifth meeting this year. This high degree of contact can also be seen between our ministers, departments, and our countries’ business communities. And I am very pleased to see representatives of German business and heads of major Russian companies here today. We are satisfied with the positive economic tendencies and, in particular, in our innovative cooperation. And we can discuss this in more detail at our following meetings.

We hope that the increase in the volume of investments will also help the long-term repayment of the rest of the debt the former Soviet Union owed to Germany at the end of this year. I am confident that Bavaria, such a major economic centre and Land, famous for its high-tech industry and well-developed agriculture, will do its part in deepening Russian-German cooperation.

As a matter of fact, Bavaria is presently leading relations between Germany and Russia. I will say more about this later. But of the 3,500 German companies or companies with German capital working in Russia almost half are working with Bavarian capital. And of the ten and some billion dollars of German investments in Russia then almost a half, one third, are Bavarian investments. And half of the major projects are Bavarian. I know that it is in many respects thanks to the active and effective policy of the Bavarian government that Russian-Bavarian relations are expanding. First and foremost we see how dynamic our economic relations are. As I already said, Bavarian firms are more active than many others on the Russian market. I am not only talking about the leading companies – Siemens, BMW, MAN, Audi, Adidas – but also about the world-renowned smaller ones – Knauf, Ehrmann, Hochland, which have also proved themselves to be interested and reliable partners in the Russian market.

Within our common efforts to make our business cooperation more dynamic, one initiative is an association of Russian businesses working in Bavaria. And we consider establishing a so-called Russian house here a good initiative. It must be supported. We would be grateful for support for this idea from the Lander’s Economic Ministry and Bavaria’s Chamber of Trade and Commerce.

I am convinced that Bavaria is able to make a quality breakthrough in cooperation in the high-tech sector and, in particular, we are interested in Bavaria’s experience in cooperation between science and higher education and in establishing specialized clusters.

We just had a private discussion with Mr Prime Minister. Many people still remember the time when Bavaria was exclusively an agricultural region in Germany. And now in the last ten years it has undoubtedly become the leading industrial centre in Germany and in Europe. Moreover, one that is focused on high-tech. Of course this is a very good example. And for that reason projects in cooperation in the high-tech sector, cooperation between scientific communities, and the corresponding research and production associations, represent a special interest for us. And we intend to support these undertakings in every possible way and we have plans in this respect.

I already mentioned the special relations that Bavaria has with Moscow but this does not limit Bavarian ties with the other regions of the Russian Federation. Already for a long time ties at the regional level have acted as a strong support for the whole range of Russian-German relations. Throughout these last years Bavaria plays an ever more important role and is one of the leaders in interregional cooperation. And this occurs with a number of Russian regions.

And I wish to assure you, Mr Prime Minister, that we shall support these ties in every possible way. Relations are successfully developing with the Moscow region, the Sverdlovsk region, and with the Krasnodarsky Krai. And I draw your attention to the fact that a number of heads of Russian regions came here today precisely because they are interested in further developing contacts with Bavaria.

I want to thank you for your personal participation in resolving issues with respect to accommodating the Russian General Consulate in Munich. Thanks to the efforts of the Bavarian party we found a very good installation and are confident that we will engage in useful work that will promote direct contacts between citizens in all the spheres in which we cooperate.

The historical affinity between Bavaria and Russia is an important resource in our cooperation. There are a huge number of historical events and people that have ties. And today quite a large Russian diaspora lives here. We are grateful that you provide assistance so that people can live comfortably in Bavaria, feel as if they were at home here, and perceive Bavaria and all of Germany as their second motherland.

Dear Mr Prime Minister, thank you for your attention.