PUTIN: Growth of Russian economy opens new opportunities for German business

BOCHAROV RUCHEY (Russia) (Sputnik) – New opportunities for foreign businesses, including German ones, are emerging in Russia amid economic growth in the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

“We expect that German companies will continue to work in our country. Against the background of the restoration of economic growth in Russia, new opportunities are opening for business, for business in general and for our friends from abroad, including from Germany in particular,”

Putin said at a meeting with representatives of German businesses in Sochi.

In turn, Wolfgang Buechele, the chairman of Germany’s Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, said that according to polls, the majority of Germans considered it necessary to establish friendly relations with Russia.

“Polls always say one thing, most Germans have no doubt that we need friendly relations with Russia, and that we need to do everything possible to avoid stagnation in our relationship. This desire, of course, will be the benchmark for the new federal government,”

Buechele stressed.

The meeting was organized at the initiative of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations.

Relations between Russia and the European states, including Germany, significantly deteriorated against the background of Ukrainian crisis which erupted in 2014 and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. The two sides imposed restrictive measures against each other that resulted in the drop of trade and decline in cooperation.