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Russia, Germany Sign Multibillion-Dollar Deals

   VOA News 15 July 2010
   German  Channcellor  Angela Merkel, left, and Russian President Dmitry
   Medvedev talk during a signing ceremony, 15 Jul 2010

Photo: AP

   German  Channcellor  Angela Merkel, left, and Russian President Dmitry
   Medvedev  talk  to  each  other during a signing ceremony at an annual
   Russia-German  forum  in  the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, 15
   Jul 2010

   Russian  President Dmitri Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
   met  Thursday in Russia, where they oversaw the signing of billions of
   dollars worth of business deals between the two countries.
   The  two  leaders  held  their talks in Russia's Ural mountain city of
   Yekaterinburg.
   In  one  of the deals, German engineering company Siemens will provide
   wind  turbines  and  more  than  200 regional trains for Russia as the
   country  pushes  to modernize its economy.  The railway deal alone is
   said to be worth $2.8 billion.
   Siemens  also agreed to help Russia establish a high-technology center
   in  Skolkovo, outside Moscow, that would be similar to Silicon Valley,
   a  region in the western U.S. state of California that is home to many
   high-tech companies.
   President  Medvedev  has  encouraged  German  businesses  to invest in
   Russian   companies   that  had  until  recently  been  off-limits  to
   foreigners.   Germany  is Russia's main economic partner, and the two
   countries enjoy close diplomatic relations.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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