This opinion was expressed by participants in the traditional evening of the Port of Hamburg in St. Petersburg, held in our city on September 21.
The main topics of the Evening were the 60th anniversary of sister-city relations between St. Petersburg and Hamburg, and perspective directions for further development of bilateral contacts.
Over 270 representatives of transport and port economy of Hamburg and Russia, as well as officials of the city attended the event. The honorary guest of the evening was State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Transport and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic city Hamburg Dr Rolf Boenziger, who arrived to the Northern capital of Russia especially for this event.
The event was organized by the Association Port of Hamburg Marketing e. V.
Opening the event, Secretary of state R. Boensiger emphasized the particular importance of the 60-year anniversary of the sister-city relationship between St. Petersburg and Hamburg, and added: "Many contacts, especially the personal ones, that were established over the years are a solid bridge between our two Metropolitan areas and an anchor in German-Russian relations."
Dr. Ingo Egloff, Chairman of the Association Port of Hamburg Marketing e.V. also confirmed interest in mutual communication and collaboration, pointing out the large number of participants from the Russian side.
In the welcome address of the Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg Evgeny Grigoriev the attention was paid to the great potential available to the partner cities. The high intensity of existing contacts and strong position of the leadership of cities to support comprehensive inter-regional relations was particularly noticed.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg Vyacheslav Kalganov wished both port cities economic success and fruitful cooperation in a stable economic and political condition.
As the part of the Evening programme and on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of sister-city relations between St. Petersburg and Hamburg for companies-members of Association "The Port of Hamburg Marketing" visited the deep-water port of Saint Petersburg Bronka.
During the tour, the Director of the container terminal Stefan Wilkens presented specific plans for the development of the universal port Bronka and explained its strategic importance for the future cargo flows between the Russian Federation and Germany.
Reference:
Friendly relations between St. Petersburg and Hamburg and was established in 1957. Today, cities have close economic, cultural, social and scientific contacts. A significant contribution to the cooperation brings, including fruitful cooperation between the ports of St. Petersburg and Hamburg, which is carried out for many years. In 2003 in Saint-Petersburg there are Association "the Port of Hamburg Marketing e. V." (Hafen Hamburg Marketing e.V. (HHM). The opening of a representative office has become the need of the immediate presence of the transport, shipping and port companies in Hamburg in the growing and promising Russian market, as well as providing opportunities for Russian companies on world and European markets via Hamburg. The mission of the Association "the Port of Hamburg Marketing e. V." is a non-profit non-governmental organization.