Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel (translated from Russian): Good morning,
I am very pleased that the Hannover Messe is opening today with this visit to the Russian pavilion, given that Russia is the guest country this year. On behalf of the Federal Government we wish a warm welcome to our guests from Russia at this year’s Hannover Messe.
We are very pleased to see that Russian participants represent here a broad range of their country’s capabilities. We know that there are 160 exhibitors from Russia taking part. Russian business is much more broadly presented here this time than was the case in 2005. This reflects our growing bilateral cooperation in the industrial sector.
I welcome this opportunity to personally greet some of Russia’s businesspeople and say once more, “Welcome to the Hannover Messe.”
It is my pleasure now to give the floor to the President of Russia.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Madam Federal Chancellor, friends, colleagues,
I want to start by thanking the organisers for giving Russian companies the second opportunity over these last years to be the main guests at this international event. I particularly want to thank Madam Federal Chancellor for finding the time to come here today to take part in the opening of the Russian pavilion.
Russia is presenting a very varied exhibit featuring 20 regions and covering a total of 5,000 square metres. We have 160 companies taking part. Not only the big names from Russia, but other companies too, working successfully in energy, engineering, including transport engineering, high-tech sectors, electronics, biomedicine and many other fields.
The pavilion’s visitors can thus get a clear picture of the scale and diversification of Russia’s economy today. I am sure this will be of interest to both specialists and the general public.
I wish all participants successful work at the fair and promising new contacts and contracts.
Thank you.