Trade between Russia and Germany has seen a 40 percent rise in the first quarter, and German businesses are localizing production in Russia, said President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2017).
"We have agreed and successfully implement a number of projects. German production is quite high, and localization reaches 60 to 70 percent,” said Putin on Thursday.
“Let’s take the auto industry, for example. No German company or any other foreign business has left the Russian market despite political difficulties. They continue working despite the difficult economic situation in Russia, despite the decline in production and GDP in Russia, despite the drop in real income and demand. We try to help such companies on behalf of the government so that this constructive work would continue,” he said.
Putin was referring to a Daimler plant, which is being built in the Moscow region. The plant will be completed by 2019 and will assemble up to 25,000 Mercedes-Benz cars a year and employ over 1,000 people.
In May, the Moscow-based German-Russian Foreign Trade Chamber announced a 43 percent rise in trade to €6.7 billion in the first two months of the year. The German Federal Statistical Office posted a 37.3 percent growth to €9.5 billion in the same period.
According to a survey conducted by the Chamber, 63 percent of German companies actively working in Russia expect sales to rise this year.