d by supplies from Russia.with other regions - suppliers of gas and oil Russia seems to be more stable and predictable partner. Meanwhile German companies are interested not only in getting energy resources but also in participation in their mining on Russian s territory. Within the multilateral consortium German and Russian companies are planning to cooperate in modernization of gas transportation system in Ukraine (if Ukrainians wouldn t strongly oppose it). German firms are also ready to develop bilateral cooperation in the sphere of electric power station building (that creates some opportunities to use Russian scientific resources). Agreement about North European Gas Pipeline signed by Gazprom, E.ON and BASF in the end of September 2005 was a real political event for both countries. Through this agreement Germany will guarantee provision of 10 percent of its overall energy supply. The document was appreciated as the cornerstone of so called energy alliance between two countries. The gas pipeline will have a length of 1,200 kilometers and will follow a route along the Baltic Sea bed from Vyborg to Greifswald on the German coast with branches running to Sweden, Finland and Russia s Kaliningrad Region. Of course Germany will not only ensure reliable energy supplies for itself, but will become the main distributor of Russian gas throughout EU. The same time Joint Declaration on Energy Cooperation between Russia and Germany was signed by two government s chefs.
The German Chancellor has made this step knowing about the contradictory interests of his eastern neighbours. Polish media even called the NEG Putin-Schröder pact hinted at Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement in 1939. , actually the two economies are the complement of one another, and closer economic cooperation produce benefits for both sides. Meanwhile officials from both sides agree that present level of bilateral trade does not correspond to real economic potential of two countries. Some years ago there were initiated talks to activate investment activity, industrial cooperation especially in the fields of high technological production but all these projects are only plans for future., We can say that German interests actuall y play a role of driving force for RussianEU relations only in the energy sphere. Without the personal efforts of Chancellor G.Schröder energy dialogue remained posed in mid-air, because the European bureaucracy hasn t ever welcomed or encouraged such deve lopment. Having in mind that NEGagreement is obviously beneficial for stable economic development not...
