German chancellor kicks off visit in Russia

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 09, 2003

German chancellor kicks off visit in Russia

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Russia's Ural city of Yekaterinburg on Wednesday for a two-day visit.

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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Russia's Ural city of Yekaterinburg on Wednesday for a two-day visit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Schroedermainly on economic cooperation, the Interfax news agency reported.

Pressing international and regional issues, including the settlement of the Iraq and Middle East conflicts, the situation inAfghanistan and Russia's cooperation with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the fields of security, nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the struggle against terrorism, will also be addressed.

The two sides are expected to sign a package of bilateral documents, including an agreement on the transit of German military property and personnel through Russia to Afghanistan for stabilization and rehabilitation and commercial contracts, during the negotiations.

The summit-level consultations have been held annually since 1998.

Germany is Russia's leading trade and economic partner. The Russian-German trade amounted to 24.7 billion euros (28.7 billion US dollars) in 2002 and the turnover hit 11.8 billion euros (13.7 billion US dollars) in the first half of 2003, according to latestofficial statistics.

Russia plays an important role in providing Germany with fuel and energy resources, raw materials and semi-finished products.

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