Russo-German Deals Worth Billions Signed

[CHIMO]

German and Russian companies have signed business deals worth billions of euros at the Hanover Fair on Monday as the two countries' leaders said they were committed to help further improve economic ties.

German chemicals giant BASF and Russian energy company Gazprom signed contracts for two major projects at the world's largest industrial fair. The two firms have agreed to jointly develop the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field in western Siberia, making BASF the first German company to get access to Russia's enormous gas reserves.

The deal includes investments worth $1 billion (770.8 million euros), BASF CEO Jürgen Habrecht said, adding that another joint project, a Baltic Sea pipeline, will be worth another $2 billion.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who attended the signing ceremony, described the deal as "historic." Russia is Germany's major oil and gas supplier.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1548722,00.html

[AlamoDemoc]

1. I am wondering whatever happened to

Russia's total international debt of $150bn? I heard Germany owns about half of the $42bn Soviet sovereign debt. Hmmmmmmmm!

[bin.dare]

3. russian debt is $43bn ...

LONDON -- Russia should not pay a premium to repay early its $43 billion debt to creditor governments, an aide to President Vladimir Putin's administration said.

"There can be no discussion about a premium," Arkady Dvorkovich said in an interview in London on the sidelines of the Russian Economic Forum. He declined to comment further on the negotiations between Russia and its creditors. (Bloomberg)

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/04/12/061.html

[Iterate]

2. Germany is aggressively signing trade deals

all across Asia in particular. Here's a Spiegel Online link to the story which includes summaries of newspaper editorials.

"Berlin and Moscow Cross 'T's, Dot 'I's and Count Billions"
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,350914,00.html