GERMANY: VLADIMIR PUTIN AND GERHARD SCHROEDER AGREE ACCORD TO SETTLE SOVIET TRADE DEBTS TO FORMER EAST GERMANY.

Record ID: 647142

  • Title: GERMANY: VLADIMIR PUTIN AND GERHARD SCHROEDER AGREE ACCORD TO SETTLE SOVIET TRADE DEBTS TO FORMER EAST GERMANY.
  • Date: 10th April 2002
  • Summary: (U5) WEIMAR, GERMANY (APRIL 10, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. TV: WIDE OF CROWD 0.02 2. GV/PAN/CU: CLOSE UP OF GERMAN CHANCELLOR GERHARD SCHROEDER AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN; SCHROEDER AND PUTIN SURROUNDED BY SECURITY AND DELEGATES; SCHROEDER AND PUTIN POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS IN FRONT OF STATUE OF GOETHE AND SCHILLER; SCHROEDER AND PUTIN (4 SHOTS) 0.25 3. SV: WIDE OF CHILDREN SHOUTING IN THE CROWD 0.27 4. MV/SV: SCHROEDER COMES OVER, GREETS THE CHILDREN AND ASKS THEM WHY THEY ARE NOT AT SCHOOL; SCHROEDER INTRODUCES PUTIN TO THE CHILDREN; MEDIA 1.00 5. GV/CU: WIDE OF SCHROEDER AND PUTIN GOING INTO THE GOETHE HOUSE MUSEUM; WIDE OF GOETHE HOUSE; SCHROEDER AND PUTIN WAVING TO THE CROWD FROM THE WINDOW (3 SHOTS) 1.22 6. GV: GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER HANS EICHEL WITH DELEGATES AHEAD OF THE FINAL ROUND OF THE RUSSIAN-GERMAN CONSULTATIONS 1.31 7. MCU/GV/PAN: CLOSE OF PUTIN; CLOSE OF EICHEL TALKING TO SCHROEDER; WIDE OF TALKS IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 1.54 8. GV/CU: WIDE OF SCHROEDER, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER JOSCHKA FISCHER (LEFT IN PICTURE) AND GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER OTTO SCHILLY (RIGHT OF SCHROEDER); CLOSE UP OF PUTIN; TALKS IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 2.10 9. GV/CU: FAMILY PHOTO; CLOSE OF PUTIN AND SCHROEDER LAUGHING (2 SHOTS) 2.28 10. GV/PAN: PHOTO OP 2.40 11. GV/PAN/GV: SCHROEDER AND PUTIN ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM; MEDIA GATHERED (2 SHOTS) 3.02 12. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PUTIN SAYING "All in all, we have agreed on five hundred million. Russia is prepared to pay in three instalments within three years, three hundred and fifty million in the first year, and seventy five million in the second and the third year." 3.20 13. GV: HACKS GATHERED 3.24 14. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) SCHROEDER SAYING "In the Middle East conflict, the speech by U.S President George Bush had a political effect and found a basis that help has to come from outside. The rest has yet to be discussed." 3.45 15. SV: AUDIENCE 3.49 16. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) SCHROEDER, TALKING ABOUT IRAQ, SAYING "All other measures require the approval of the United Nations." 4.01 17. GV: WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE 4.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WEIMAR, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVABU6D2X4AE5RT1X7ZLMEXYR4IK
  • Story Text: Russia has agreed to pay Germany 500 million euros
    ($440 million) to settle ex-Soviet trade debts to the former
    East Germany, resolving a dispute that had lasted years and
    marking the high point of a two-day summit.



    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian
    President Vladimir Putin announced the accord, and a deal to
    end an export credit insurance wrangle, after talks, strolls
    in the picturesque town of Weimar and a joint talk show
    appearance on Wednesday (April 10, 2002).

    Schroeder told a joint news conference the Russian payment
    was to settle debts run up by the former Soviet Union in
    "transferable roubles" on trade with Communist East Germany.

    Putin said the issue was unusual because it involved two
    governments that had since collapsed.

    Nonetheless, he agreed to pay Germany 350 million euros
    ($308 million) this year and the rest in the next two years.

    The two sides had until now failed to agree on an exchange
    rate for settlement.

    "All in all, we have agreed on 500 million. Russia is
    prepared to pay in three instalments within three years - 350
    million in the first year, and 75 million in the second and
    the third year," said Putin.

    Germany holds 40 percent of Russia's $40 billion debt to
    the Paris Club of creditor nations.

    German newspapers reported last week that Berlin hoped to
    win repayment of more than one billion euros from the
    Russians. German and Russian firms signed deals worth 1.5
    billion euros parallel to the summit.

    Putin, a former KGB spy in then-communist East Germany in
    the 1980s, calls Germany Moscow's most important partner and
    has been anxious to clear away past issues blocking closer
    ties.

    The two leaders went out of their way to demonstrate their
    friendly relations.

    Putin and Schroeder did some sightseeing on Wednesday
    (April 10) in Weimar, a town associated with many giants of
    German culture. A few police snipers wearing black masks stood
    at windows above.

    "This is the Russian president," Schroeder told a group of
    children in front of a statue of beloved Weimar residents
    Goethe and Schiller, the 19th century writers. After a pause
    he added, "Hey, why aren't you kids in school?"
    The two leaders also said they had common positions on
    problems in the Middle East and Iraq.

    For all the positive words, the unexpected debt deal was
    the most significant result of the two-day summit.

    Under what Schroeder called a package deal, Germany agreed
    to raise Hermes export insurance cover to Russia to one
    billion euros. Most Soviet-era debts to other ex-communist
    countries have already been resolved.

    Putin raised an unsolved issue from the Communist era,
    saying Moscow was still seeking possession of former Soviet
    property in Germany, but added that the problem would be
    discussed in the future.


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