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Medvedev arrives in Germany on official visit

He will join German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in launching the Nord Stream gas pipeline

BERLIN, November 7 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Germany on an official visit.

He will join German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in launching the Nord Stream gas pipeline in Lubmin, a coastal resort in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on November 8.

North Stream will run across the Baltic Sea from the Portovaya bay to the German coast (near Greifswald) and link Russia's unified gas transportation system with the European Union's gas network. The first stretch of the pipeline is scheduled to be commissioned in 2011, and the second one, in 2012. The total capacity of the pipeline is 55 billion cubic metres of a gas year.

In Russia, a 917-kilometre-long onshore connection is being built by Gazprom, to connect Nord Stream to the Russian gas transportation system.

Two onshore extensions from Greifswald to the south and west of Germany with a total length of 850 kilometres will be built by WINGAS and E.ON Ruhrgas.

The pipeline route is projected, as far as possible, in the form of a straight line and adjusted with regard to certain areas such as environmentally sensitive areas, chemical weapons dump sites, military zones, critical navigation routes and other dedicated areas serving business or recreational purposes. Nord Stream's route is designed so as not to cross the World War II ammunition dump sites. The Baltic Sea territory along the pipeline route will be examined in detail before the pipe laying starts.

Nord Stream is an international project and its construction is regulated by the international conventions and national legislation of each state, which territorial waters and/or exclusive economic zone the pipeline will cross.

Nord Stream will transport 27.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas from late 2011, and up to 55 billion cubic metres from 2012. This amount of gas corresponds to the energy produced by 55 coal power plants pr 20 new nuclear reactors.

The Shtokman gas and condensate field will be a resource base for gas deliveries via Nord Stream.

Medvedev will also have talks with German President Christian Wulff.

Presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said Medvedev’s schedule also includes a meeting with members of 16 leading German corporation such as Siemens, Deutsche Bank, E.ON., Ruhrgas, and Knauff.

“The president will make brief opening remarks and then answer questions from the audience,” the aide said.

Prikhodko, Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov, and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller are accompanying the president on the visit.

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