Press Releases

July 07, 2009

Bavaria’s Economics Minister Zeil leaves for Moscow today with a 90-member delegation

Zeil: "Our aim is to promote joint projects“

MUNICH Bavaria’s Minister of Economics Affairs, Martin Zeil, is leaving today on a trade mission to the Russian capital of Moscow accompanied by a high-caliber 90-member industrial delegation. Zeil: “The talks with our partners in Moscow will focus on further developing and intensifying our cooperation. I will take advantage of the ‘12th Bavarian Business Days’ in Moscow to specifically address concrete issues of interest to Bavarian companies. In particular, I will press for speedy progress with major joint projects.” In Moscow, Zeil will meet some of Bavaria’s longstanding partners. A central feature of his visit will be meetings with the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luschkov, his 1st Deputy, Yuri V. Roslyak, and members of the government of Moscow District. Besides major joint projects like the rehabilitation of the District of Lefortovo by the architects Meier-Scupin & Partner or the construction of 3-star hotels by the Mawy Group, there were many other successful projects. Zeil: “As an example, SANTec Vertriebs GmbH from Munich is planning the development of a contact-free wash-basin faucet for the Russian market together with SANTEHPROM from Moscow and also intends to build up a production and sales plant in Moscow. The Bavarian handicrafts firm Maierhofer has been operating successfully in the field of metal roofing and facades in Moscow and is now equipping Moscow villas.” The members of this year’s trade mission cover a broad spectrum of sectors, ranging from construction/infrastructure/interior finishing to traffic management systems and environmental technologies. “This year, new incentives extending beyond the scope of economic cooperation will come from the interdisciplinary sector of sensor technology. I am particularly pleased that this time research and science are finding room for profitable cooperation. At a Summer School organized by the University of Regensburg and the renowned Moscow Technical University MI-REA we intend to initiate joint research activities in the field of sensor technology.” At the Bavarian Business Days, the members of the delegation, most of whom are SMEs, will have the chance to directly exchange ideas and views with entrepreneurs and government representatives from Moscow City and Moscow Region, but there will also be plenty of opportunity for concrete business agreements or establishing initial contacts. From 2000 up until the beginning of the global economic crisis in 2008, revenue from trade between Bavaria and Russia increased by 4.4 times. The Russian Federation and in particular the Moscow area is Bavaria’s most important trading partner in Eastern Europe. In 2008, supplies of Bavarian products to Russia went up by over 38 percent to euro 3.7 billion. The economic crisis has, however, meant that in the first quarter of 2009 Bavarian exports to the Russian Federation fell for the first time in ten years and by as much as 41 percent. Zeil: “It is not the first time that Bavaria and Russia are facing a joint challenge. In the Russian crisis year of 1998, Bavarian companies did not follow the general exodus of capital from Russia. They were therefore in a position to benefit substantially from Russia’s economic upswing later on. I am confident that we will both overcome the current crisis as well. After all, every crisis also offers opportunities.” Bavarian companies are exceptionally well represented in the Russian Federation. Of the close on 4,600 German companies operating throughout Russia, a good third comes from Bavaria. In the Greater Moscow Area, it is as many as nearly half. They include not only the Bavarian global players, but also and in particular many small and medium-sized companies.

Press number: 295/09

Source: StMWIVT