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Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey
July 13 Swiss and Russian presidents are to discuss acute bilateral and international issues and sign a declaration on partnership for modernization at the Summit in Kolomna, Moscow region.
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey is on her working visit to Moscow on 12-13 July by an invitation of the Russian President. This is her second official visit in the status of head of the state (the first was in November 2007).
In Kolomna the Ministers of Economy of Russia and Switzerland are expected to sign an interdepartmental Declaration on cooperation in economic modernization purposes.
One of the major points of the discussion will be cooperation with Switzerland in the issue of representation of Russian interests in Georgia and Georgian interests in Russia. As official Georgia broke diplomatic relations with Russia in 2008. Thanks to kind Swiss services it’s possible to solve urgent consulate and humanitarian problems of Russian compatriots living in Georgia and of numerous Georgian Diaspora in Russia.
At the present stage Russian –Swiss relations show constant positive dynamics with high intensive political dialogue.
The present visit of the Swiss President is timed to a solemn lounge of a new cement plant OJSC Shurovskiy Cement in Kolomna. The plant is owned by Swiss group Holcim, which has invested into its modernization about 500 mln Euro. The both heads of the states are to be present at the open ceremony.
Shurovskiy Cement plant was one of the first cement plants in Russia. It was based by German entrepreneur from Latvia Emil Lipgart in 1870 on the right bank of the Oka river. In 2007 the company administration decided to hold a big modernization, meaning switching to producing cement by a dry method.
The Swiss Group Holcim started investing into Russian cement production since 1993. It owns the control block of shares in OJSC Shurovskiy Cement and JSC Volskcement.
There are more than 600 companies with Swiss equity stake registered in Russia. The biggest Swiss investors in Russia are Nestle Company, the ABB Asea Brown Boveri Group, Schindler Group.
Swiss company Novartis is planning to built a pharmaceutical fabrics in Saint Petersburg. An approximate investment estimate is 500 mln Euro, about 100 -150 mln will be spent for building a production and the rest to research work. The fabrics id expected to be opened within a year and a half.
Swiss is one of the most stable trade Russian partners. In 2010 the commodity circulation amount between our countries has grown by 36,2 % in comparison with the previous year and made 11,1 bln USD. Russian export is 8.7 bln USD, import 2.4 bln USD.
The positive dynamics was preserved in the period of January- April 2011. In comparison with the same period the turnover growth was increased by 26.6 %, including export- by 25.9 % and import – by 29.2 %.
The structure of Russian export consists mostly of energy recourses (52.5 %), non-ferrous metals (23.9 %), precious metals and stones (11.6 %). The import structure is presented by pharmacy production (36.4 %), engineering goods (13.0 %), electrotechnical goods (8.1 %), optical and measuring instruments (7.0 %), watches (6.6 %).
Irina Fomina
Author: Irina Fomina
