PRESS RELEASE
Bavarian Minister-President Leads Delegation in Moscow, Announces Merkel Visit to Moscow
March 17, 2017 (EIRNS)—Led by Bavarian Minister President Horst Seehofer, a delegation of state politicians and industrialists visited Moscow for three days, concluding with a tour of the Skolkovo Innovation Center near the Russian capital this morning.
Yesterday, Seehofer and his predecessor in Bavaria Edmund Stoiber also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they informed among other things that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with him in Moscow on May 2. A special joint Russian-Bavarian Economics Commission to promote investments and trade between both sides has been agreed.
From the delegation, there was strong criticism of the Russia sanctions. Bavarian Economics Minister Ilse Aigner denounced the sanctions as "the principle of pressure and counter-pressure which does not work on the level of economic relations," calling on the European Union to have a "serious cost-benefit analysis" on the results of the entire sanctions regime. Seehofer said that "I oppose practicing the old thinking in blocs, which declare the one as good and the others as bad." Bavarian Agriculture Minister Helmut Brunner said that his talks in Moscow were designed "to prepare the post-sanctions era."
