The third fireside chat with the Russian Ambassador
On June 28, the third fireside chat took place at the Russian Embassy in Berlin, organized by the Berthold-Beitz-Centre with the support of the Russian Embassy. Discussions lasted far into the evening with representatives from the German economy, government, and research community. Prevailing questions of European-Russian and German-Russian summits were high on the agenda of the meeting.
Many debaters strongly called for the fast abolition of the visa regime between Russia and the European countries. “There is nothing to be said against the abolition of the visa regime, it is an outdated control instrument,” pointed out one of the experts. He also suggested taking practical steps, which would lighten the present visa regime and eventually abolish it entirely.
Ambassador Grinin reported on recent achievements of the modernization partnership between the EU and Russia. For example, during the summit in Nizhniy Novgorod a financial package of $2 billion was decided upon. The package will allow for broad-scale modernization projects to be conducted, and the partnership aims to increase the competitiveness of the Russian and European economies. Russia and the EU must work toward a joint economic and political role in order to balance out emerging economies such as China, Brazil, etc.
Further points of discussion were the energy partnership, prospects for the Chancellor Merkel’s Meseberg-initiative, the impact of the media on the German-Russian relationship, and the common strategy for Belarus.