Karlsruhe Hosts 13th Annual Conference of Russian and German Partner Cities

The conference, entitled 70 Years after the End of the War: Power of Municipal Cooperation, was held on 28 to 30 June with over 500 participants.

A roundtable discussion, entitled Moscow and Its German Partners: Prospects and New Dimensions of Cooperation, was held before the event, with the participation of Sergey Cheryomin, Minister of Moscow Government and Head of Moscow Department for Foreign Economic and Municipal Relations. Authorities of Moscow and various German cities were among the participants of the discussion. Mr. Cheryomin opened the discussion and said that Moscow has been maintaining cooperation with the leading regions of Germany in the field of social services, culture, sports, tourism, exchange of young people, exhibitions, and professional training of municipal authorities for the past decades. Mikhail Prokudin, Member of the German-Russian Economic Association Board and Head of the Division for International Relations in ACIG Group of Companies, took part in the roundtable.

Special Deputy of the President of the Russian Federation for Foreign Cultural Affairs Mikhail Shvydkoy, Governor of Moscow region and President of Porodnennye Goroda international association Andrey Vorobyev (he read the complimentary address of the President of Russia to the participants of the conference), Bundestag Member and coordinator of German-Russian intersocietal cooperation in the Federal Foreign Office of Germany Gernot Erler, Karlsruhe Mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup attended the grand opening of the conference.

Mr. Prokudin moderated the panel discussion, entitled Economic Relations on the Communal Level. Small and Medium Businesses, at the Economics work team session coordinated by the German-Russian Economic Association on the second day of the conference. Its participants discussed various practical aspects of business development, its support on the part of municipal and communal authorities, and experience of and opportunities offered by international cooperation. General Manager of OOO Messe Duesseldorf Moscow Thomas Stenzel, Deputy Head of Ufa City Administration Ildar Khasanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Joint Stock Company Commercial Bank “Center-invest” Dr. Vasily V. Vysokov, Director of Leipzig/Halle Airport Dierk Näther, Deputy Managing Director Operations at Ruslan-Salis-GmbH Leipzig Ildar Ilyasov, Head of the Control Agency of the city of Stuttgart Manfred Blumenschein presented their reports.

The conference ended with the official reception of Dr. Mentrup attended by all conference participants.