"Russia seeks to build cooperation with the Federal Republic of Germany on the principles of mutual benefit, respect, equality and consideration of each other's interests. Despite the known political difficulties and fluctuations in the global economic environment, Germany remains the leading foreign policy partner of our country… Speaking about the situation in the bilateral trade, we noted with pleasure the growth of the trade turnover, in January and February, it increased by 43 percent," Putin said.
According to Putin, Germany is the largest purchaser of the Russian gas, which covers nearly 35 percent of the German needs.
Putin expressed hope that German business leaders would turned up in greater numbers than last year to the upcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
The next annual SPIEF will be held in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg on July 1-3. The event, which is held under the Russian president's auspices, gathers heads of states and governments, as well as CEOs and many prominent economic experts from around the world.
"We hope that German business representatives will participate more actively in the SPIEF this year," Putin said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The president recalled that the Russian-German Strategic Economic and Financial Working Group had resumed its work last year, noting that it was tasked with helping both countries' business leaders in establishing ties and running joint projects. The working group was re-convened in June 2016 after a three-year break caused by the Russia-EU rift over the Ukrainian conflict. The two sides signed joint project deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Merkel is paying an official visit to Russia on Tuesday. Previously Merkel visited Moscow on May 10, 2015 to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
