:00:24. > :00:32.Inspired of well-known political difficulties and geopolitical
:00:33. > :00:37.situations, Germany becomes a leading partner for our country.
:00:38. > :00:45.Talking about the situation with trade, we have stated that the
:00:46. > :00:53.growth of trade in January and February increased 43%. We have
:00:54. > :00:58.marked that Germany remains the biggest consumer of Russian gas,
:00:59. > :01:06.supplies from Russia cover nearly 35% of German internal markets.
:01:07. > :01:13.Germany is the leading investor into the Russian economy, more than $16
:01:14. > :01:22.billion. German business uses all the opportunities of the Russian
:01:23. > :01:28.market. We have about 5000 joint ventures, businesses with German
:01:29. > :01:36.capital and their capital exceeds $50 billion. The working group on
:01:37. > :01:47.strategic operation in economy and finances has resumed its work. It
:01:48. > :01:51.results issues between business people of two countries, and
:01:52. > :01:56.facilitates the realisation of the joint project. Representatives of
:01:57. > :02:03.German business circles will take part in Saint Petersburg
:02:04. > :02:07.International economic Forum. We have touched the issues of
:02:08. > :02:13.humanitarian cooperation, scientific educational context and cultural
:02:14. > :02:23.ties. However, the biggest attention was paid to international agenda. As
:02:24. > :02:30.to the issues of preparation for the upcoming G20 summit, we will discuss
:02:31. > :02:40.it a working breakfast that. Right after this meeting with you. Russia
:02:41. > :02:41.and Germany cooperate within the G20 format against terrorism,
:02:42. > :02:52.money-laundering and tax evasion and corruption. Russia is prepared to
:02:53. > :03:01.facilitate German legislation so that the G20 summit in hamburg is
:03:02. > :03:08.protected. We can discuss all the issues about economy and finances.
:03:09. > :03:11.The current meeting, we have talked as I said, about the situation in
:03:12. > :03:20.Ukraine, which raises serious concern. With Mrs Merkel, we are in
:03:21. > :03:27.constant contact, as well as with other members of the Normandy
:03:28. > :03:35.format, as you know, the latest conversation was on the 17th of
:03:36. > :03:39.April. We continue to be active in regulation of the Ukrainian crisis,
:03:40. > :03:47.and we will talk about this after the presidential election in France.
:03:48. > :03:51.We have reiterated our commitment to full comment of the Minsk agreement.
:03:52. > :04:01.The most important ask is uniting all the forces of the conflict,
:04:02. > :04:09.which will bring a ceasefire. The special status of regions need to be
:04:10. > :04:20.confirmed. It is our opinion that the stabilising force in the
:04:21. > :04:32.conflict is the special monitoring mission of OSSCE, and of course the
:04:33. > :04:37.explosion of the OSSCE vehicle. The impartial investigation of what
:04:38. > :04:47.happened, as you may remember exactly three years ago, and I
:04:48. > :04:51.cannot remember this, Ukrainian nationalists drove defenceless
:04:52. > :04:59.people into the trade union building and they were burned alive.
:05:00. > :05:05.The culprits have not been identified or brought to account.
:05:06. > :05:14.This should not be repeated. We also exchanged opinions on Syria about
:05:15. > :05:18.the Geneva format. We are convinced the decision and the solution for
:05:19. > :05:30.the Syrian conflict can be only peaceful and the UN agenda. A
:05:31. > :05:39.thorough and comrades of investigation of the 4th of April
:05:40. > :05:47.incident needs to be undertaken. -- Farrer and competence. We denounce
:05:48. > :05:53.all use of chemical weapons. -- thorough and comprehensive. Our
:05:54. > :05:59.talks are always frank and open, and businesslike. In the post-war
:06:00. > :06:12.decades, Russia and Germany have gone through long and difficult
:06:13. > :06:18.paths, we should not lose the gains for the sake of peace and
:06:19. > :06:22.cooperation in Europe. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I
:06:23. > :06:28.believe that it is a very good opportunity here to have these talks
:06:29. > :06:38.and thank you very much for the invitation to Sochi. We have had
:06:39. > :06:42.very intense first talks, and I believe the next part, which will
:06:43. > :06:49.deal with the G20 presidency and other international questions, will
:06:50. > :07:01.be very constructive as well. Thank you for being a constructive partner
:07:02. > :07:08.for the organisation of the G20 in hamburg. The events in the world
:07:09. > :07:11.showed that a multilateral Corporation is needed more than ever
:07:12. > :07:22.today and in this spirit we want to prepare for the G20 summit. We
:07:23. > :07:30.started on the bilateral relations. We have some very pleasing
:07:31. > :07:36.developments in our Corporation. Maybe we will come to a point where
:07:37. > :07:44.the sanctions will be able to be used at some point, but there will
:07:45. > :07:51.be conditions. We have a lot of co-operation in the economic sphere,
:07:52. > :08:05.in scientific areas and between youth groups. It is the 70th
:08:06. > :08:14.anniversary of the Second World War. I want to remind ourselves of our
:08:15. > :08:21.common history in those 70 years since the sacrifices that the Soviet
:08:22. > :08:34.Union also made. I also want to mention the War Graves, those War
:08:35. > :08:38.Graves is very much a usual thing, and this means a lot for the lives
:08:39. > :08:45.of many people who were affected by the Second World War. We spoke about
:08:46. > :08:55.the Petersburg dialogue, which has become a forum were very critical
:08:56. > :09:02.issues can be aired. And we believe in an exchange, even if there are
:09:03. > :09:05.differences of opinion. We spoke about the rights and the
:09:06. > :09:13.possibilities of civil society here in Russia. I spoke about the German
:09:14. > :09:20.Russian house, I believe there are some good developments and we can
:09:21. > :09:25.conclude on this case. But the possibility of the right to
:09:26. > :09:32.demonstrate is important in a civil society, and also I have highlighted
:09:33. > :09:38.the role of NGOs. We receive negative reports on the way that
:09:39. > :09:48.homosexuals are dealt with in Chechnya in particular, and I ask
:09:49. > :09:58.President Putin to make and use his influence to ease the way that
:09:59. > :10:00.homosexuals, and also the Jehovah's Witnesses Abe approached in the
:10:01. > :10:09.country. I think this dialogue is important because we agreed to
:10:10. > :10:11.continue on the process after the presidential election in France. We
:10:12. > :10:27.do have setbacks from time to I support what was said just now.
:10:28. > :10:32.The work of the monitors by the OSCE, the gentleman there, I want to
:10:33. > :10:39.highlight and it is even more sad and terrible when people who are
:10:40. > :10:47.working for those rights are endangered and I think the central
:10:48. > :10:53.point where we do have very little success, where we keep reminding
:10:54. > :11:01.ourselves of the zero point of the Minsk agreement, which was that we
:11:02. > :11:05.need a ceasefire, we have now started working in parallel
:11:06. > :11:15.politically, but the ceasefire is of essential importance. And the
:11:16. > :11:20.exchange of captive people, also. I can say from the German Federal
:11:21. > :11:26.Government and from our Foreign Minister that we will not shy away
:11:27. > :11:36.from any effort, even if it is very hard to continue in this format, but
:11:37. > :11:42.we will continue to contribute. As the German Chancellor, I made clear
:11:43. > :11:47.that we want to do everything to support a ceasefire and to help
:11:48. > :11:53.people who are in acute need. I think the concept of a security zone
:11:54. > :12:00.that one could work on more and I believe that we can talk about other
:12:01. > :12:05.challenges as well. We are united in the fight against international
:12:06. > :12:16.terrorism. Russia and Germany could work more closely here, but we have
:12:17. > :12:22.a coalition to work on Islamist terrorism and we are on one opinion
:12:23. > :12:28.with Russia on this field. We have had very extensive talks and we can
:12:29. > :12:34.continue those as well. There are differences of opinion but I believe
:12:35. > :12:45.international policies always means seeking the conversation, seeking
:12:46. > :12:49.new talks and on the 72nd anniversary of the end of the Second
:12:50. > :12:53.World War, we should really work towards solutions where many people
:12:54. > :12:59.now believe many things have deteriorated badly.