Berlin Speech Profile

President Medvedev was heard by German business

For me, Chairman of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy, it was a special honor that President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to give a keynote speech on June 6, during his first visit to Germany. This was generally the first speech of the new president in Western countries. With this speech to an audience of over 1,000 listeners, Mr. Medvedev clearly demonstrated his principles in Germany.

From the point of view of the German economy, the topics of law and order, reducing the size of bureaucracy and the fight against corruption in Russia are extremely important. Many of our enterprises - members of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy, which are actively working in Russia, again and again point out to us problems in these areas. Only a country where investments are reliable and bear fruit in a calm environment is an economically interesting partner. Therefore, we were pleased to note that these issues occupied a central place in the Russian President’s speech in Berlin. He promised to create in Russia an “independent and effective legal system” and effective administration, while also using the knowledge accumulated in Germany. Medvedev stressed that corruption is a “serious problem” for Russia. We hope that concrete steps will be taken to resolve it, and in this sense we have confidence in the president. As we know, he recently headed the anti-corruption council.

The German economy especially appreciates the president’s goal to achieve sustainable modernization of the Russian economy by 2020 and turn Russia into one of the five strongest economically developed nations before this date. In Berlin, Mr. Medvedev proclaimed a “technological revolution” in this regard. The new Russian government has come to realize that Russia cannot rely solely on comfortable revenues from the oil and gas business, but must - as happened in the case of the United Arab Emirates - now chart the horizon for a more diversified economy.

At the same time, the German economy is very interested in close partnership in modernizing and diversifying the Russian economy. Russian infrastructure needs updating. The industrial sectors of the future must be created. German companies are world leaders in industries such as automotive, medical technology and mechanical engineering. Mr. Medvedev has repeatedly raised the issue of energy efficiency. At a time when energy is constantly becoming more expensive, it is necessary to do everything to ensure that the loss of oil, gas and electricity in production and transport is as small as possible. A country as poor in raw materials as Germany has learned to use resources economically. Russia could also benefit from this experience.

President Medvedev, speaking in Berlin, also promised to work to improve the economic climate and stated his desire to eliminate excessive administrative barriers. In this regard, we hope for changes to the law that came into force in May to limit foreign capital in 42 strategic sectors of Russia. This law, from our point of view, will create obstacles to the modernization of the country. Freedom of investment must reign as a fundamental principle. This should concern - here I share the same opinion with the president - Russian shareholder participation in Western European companies.

Notable for me was President Medvedev's response to a question about stronger support for medium-sized enterprises in Russia. The president said that a developed middle class is critical to the country's democratic future: “We need to turn people into entrepreneurs. We need to revive the spirit of entrepreneurship, which, unfortunately, was destroyed during the Soviet era.” It is on the basis of this clear commitment to a free market economy that we can build our relationship together, and I completely agree with President Medvedev when he says that economics is the area that brings people together and plays a key role in German-Russian relations.

If you look at the latest figures, it becomes clear that both our countries are already on the right track. Thus, in the first quarter of this year, German exports to Russia grew by an impressive 25.4%, to a level of 7.52 billion euros. Russian exports to Germany over the same period even increased by 29.9% and reached 8.35 billion euros. It is Russia, not China or India, that is currently Germany's fastest growing foreign market.

Professor Klaus MANGOLD, Chairman of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy