Russian, Swiss presidents to discuss partnership for modernization
MOSCOW. July 13 (Interfax) - The Russian and Swiss Presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Micheline Calmy-Rey, respectively, are meeting in Kolomna near Moscow on Wednesday to discuss pressing bilateral and international issues and to attend the signing of a declaration on partnership for modernization.
"An essential part of the forthcoming talks is expected to be the discussion of Swiss representation of the Russian interests in Georgia and Georgian interests in Russia. Our country cut diplomatic ties with Tbilisi in 2008. Thanks to Switzerland's 'good services' there is an opportunity to address the humanitarian problems of our fellow citizens and the large ethnic Georgian community in Russia," the source said.
"At the current stage, Russian-Swiss ties are characterized by a steady, positive dynamic. The intensity of our political dialogue has reached an unprecedentedly high level in recent years," the source said.
The declaration regarding cooperation for economic modernization will be signed in Kolomna by the two countries' economy ministers, E. Nabiullina and J. Schneider-Amman, in the presence of the Russian and Swiss leaders.
"A draft of this document was prepared on the basis of the 2011-2013 Economic Cooperation Action Plan between the Russian Economic Development Ministry and the Swiss Economy Ministry, signed during the previous Russian-Swiss summit in Sochi on August 26, 2010," the source said.
Switzerland is also one of Russia's stable trade partners, the Kremlin official said.
In 2010, trade grew by 36.2% of the previous year to $11.1 billion, including Russian exports at $8.7 billion and imports at $2.4 billion. In January-April 2011, the positive dynamics remained: compared to the same period in 2010, trade rose by 26.6%, including exports by 25.9%, imports by 29.2%, which allows the parties to talk about reaching the pre-crisis level of the bilateral trade in the short term.
Despite the general reduction of the Swiss investment abroad, throughout 2010 the Russian economy managed to raise additionally about $4.7 billion in Swiss investment. Russia's total investment by the end of 2010 stood at around $5.6 billion (ranks 12th among investor countries), including $3.2 billion in direct investment.
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey is in Russia on a working visit at the invitation of her Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. This is her second visit to Russia as the head of state (the first one was in November 2007). The current visit by the Swiss president is timed to coincide with the opening in Kolomna of a new plant of the Schurovsky Cement company, owned by Swiss Holcim Group (the facility upgrade costs around 500 million euro). "The opening ceremony will be attended by the two heads of state," a Kremlin source said.