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Ulrich Brandenburg, the German ambassador in Moscow
The situation in GermanyÖ In the Bundestag we held elections of the Federal Chancellor.
And soon ministers of the new government will be presented.
The line-up is already known.
We had a very unusual preparation for the voting.
You know that the elections in Bundestag took place on September 22nd.
It took almost three months to compose the government.
We have never needed so much time before.
You know the reason.
Today we have a big coalition.
And it is really big, considering a number of its members.
There 631 seats in the Bundestag.
The coalition holds 504 seats, 504 votes.
It is almost 80% of votes in the new Bundestag.
And there is no need to speak about the majority.
Composing of the new government influences German-Russian relations.
First of all I hope that soon we will agree on a new meeting at the top level.
Secondly, there is an article in the coalition treaty which touches on German-Russian relations.
It says that Germany and Russia are mingled.
It concerns political, economic, cultural relations.
Many people from the former Soviet Union, who speak Russian, live in Germany.
Our contacts are close.
Many people travel to Russia.
This is good.
The coalition treaty says that we want to extend our partnership in the sphere of modernization.
The modernization partnership was justified in 2008-2009.
What the main topics there?
The first topic is energy efficiency.
The second is healthcare.
The third is transport.
The fourth is professional education.
The fifth is legal cooperation between Germany and Russia.
It should be enhanced, thatís what is written in the coalition treaty.
It is also written that contacts between civil societies of Germany and Russia
should be extended and contacts with the middle class which is developing in Russia today.
It also touches on the simplification of the visa regime, and we would like to contribute to it,
and on a new agreement between Russia and the European Union;
we wish to see significant progress in the sphere.