News

On April 22, Kaluga welcomed Rudiger von Fritsch, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Russia, who arrived to Kaluga Region with a working visit. This was the Ambassador’s first official visit to a Russian region. Von Fritsch met with Anatoly Artamonov to discuss the current status and development of relations between Kaluga Region and Germany.

It was noted that Kaluga Region and Germany had a consistent trade, economic, investment and cultural relationship. In recent years, Germany took the lead by the volume of foreign investments in the economy of Kaluga Region. In 2002-2013, investments from Germany were USD 1.365 billion. In 2013, the volume of trade between Kaluga Region and Germany reached USD 3.174 billion (or 29.5% higher than in 2012).

The region’s biggest current investment project is implemented by Volkswagen, whose company is the anchor in Grabtsevo industrial park. Large and important projects are also being implemented in pharmaceutical and agricultural segments.

Rudiger von Fritsch remarked that Kaluga Region was known in Germany as an economically successful one. “It is a region that provides support and promotes economic interests. Representative of our business community assign high value to the work of the regional team. If you want to establish long-term business contacts, you need to trust the authorities”, he said.

Rudiger von Fritsch visited the Volkswagen Group Rus plant. Plans for the second half of the day include a visit to the Kaluga State University named after K.E.Tsiolkovsky and a meeting with representatives of other German companies developing projects in Kaluga Region.