This first official visit of the Ambassador to St. Petersburg was timed to the establishment of the position of an Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria in St. Petersburg.
On September 28, 2015, a meeting of the Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg E.D. Grigoriev with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Austria in the Russian Federation Emil Brix took place in Smolny. This first official visit of the Ambassador to St. Petersburg was timed to the establishment of the position of an Honorary Consul of the Republic of Austria in St. Petersburg.
In the course of the meeting the parties discussed issues pertaining to the cooperation of St. Petersburg and Austria and outlined the main priorities.
Cooperation in the area of economy presents mutual interest especially in the spheres such as biotechnologies, environmental technologies, power industry; organization of business forums for investors from St. Petersburg and Austria is also considered a promising area.
Cooperation in the area of culture is in the active development stage; in the recent years Austria has implemented a number of joint projects with the major cultural establishments of St. Petersburg – the Mariinsky Theatre and the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve.
The parties mentioned that the twin-city relationships between St. Petersburg and the city of Graz are, especially in the current situation, a means of cooperation which should by maintained and developed further.