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Putin to start European blitz tour: two countries in two days

Russian and foreign companies are expected to sign several agreements during the Hannover Fair

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, April 7 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will start a European blitz tour on Sunday. He will visit Germany and the Netherlands in the next two days.

Putin will participate in the openings of two major events, including the 2013 Hannover Fair (Hannover Messe) where Russia is a major partner this year. Putin will also visit Amsterdam to attend the opening of the cross years of Russian culture in the Netherlands and the Dutch culture in Russia. Apart from that, the Russian leader will have full-format talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The talks will dwell on bilateral economic projects and urgent international issues such as crisis in the Eurozone and Cyprus, the situation in Syria and the Middle East.

The Hannover Fair is one of the world’s biggest industrial shows held since 1947. About 200,000 people visited the Hannover Messe international exhibition of high technologies, innovations and industrial automation in 2012.

More than 6,500 companies from about 60 countries will take part in the exhibition this year. Dennis Manturov, the Russian Minister of Commerce and Industry, said that 173 Russian companies representing various branches of industry, transport and the energy sector would participate in the fair. “We have organized a common stand on an area of 4,500 square meters. The state spent 49.5 million rubles on this event. However, the commercial firms that will participate in the show have also acted as sponsors,” Manturov explained.

Russian and foreign companies are expected to sign several agreements during the Hannover Fair. For example, the Uralvagonzavod plant that produces wagons in the Urals will strike a deal with Canadian Bombardier holdings for joint production of new trams for the Russian capital.

About 15 agreements will be signed in Amsterdam. They include agreements between Gazprom Neft and Royal Dutch Shell for cooperation in the development of light tight oil deposits in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District and for cooperation in the shelf exploration in the Russian water area of the Arctic Ocean. Gazprom will sign a memorandum of intentions with N.V. Nederlandse Gasuni, a company that operates in the sphere of gas infrastructure and is responsible for gas transportation in the Netherlands and Northern Germany.

A ceremony of opening of the cross years of Russian culture in the Netherlands and the Dutch culture in Russia will take place in Hermitage on Amstel, a subsidiary of the State Hermitage Museum that opened in Amsterdam several years ago. The cross-years’ program includes over 350 projects: exhibitions, concerts and guest tours by theatres.

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