Document signed: from St. Petersburg – Deputy head of the project office "Smart St. Petersburg" Anatoly Kotov, from Dortmund – General Director of "Alliance Smart city Dortmund" Dr. Jan Fritz Rettberg.
In accordance with the agreement, the parties within their competence and in compliance with the law "take measures aimed at the development and expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation on the subject of "Smart City", including the areas of it, health and medicine, housing, security, ecology, transport, territorial development, culture, education, tourism, sports, energy".
These areas were also discussed during the meetings held today in Smolny. The negotiations were attended by:
- Anatoly Kotov, the special representative of the Governor of St. Petersburg on issues of economic development, Deputy head of project office "Smart Saint-Petersburg";- Evgeny Grigoriev, the Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg Valery Moskalenko, Chairman of the Committee on economic policy and strategic planning of St. Petersburg Andrey Maksimov, Chairman of the Committee on science and higher school, Elena Aseeva, acting Chairman of the Committee for entrepreneurship and consumer market of St. Petersburg, Vadim Khrabrov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on industrial policy and innovation of St. Petersburg, Tamara Rondaleva, General Director of JSC "Special economic zone of St. Petersburg" and others.
On the part of Germany were:
- Andreas Pinkwarth, Minister of economy, innovation, digitalization and energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia,- Dirk Wiese, Commissioner of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany for inter-social cooperation.
Anatoly Kotov presented German partners with a brief overview of the activities of the project office "Smart St. Petersburg", and stressed that "the creation of the digital economy is the number one priority".
In response, the head of the German delegation, Minister of economy, innovation, digitalization and energy of the land of North Rhine-Westphalia Andreas Pinkvart said that he was impressed by the work, especially noting that "he sees Parallels and is interested in deepening contacts with Russia and especially with St. Petersburg".
During the second part of the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg Evgeny Grigoriev spoke about the pace of economic cooperation. He drew attention to the fact that Germany is traditionally among the three leading trading partners of St. Petersburg and recalled that "German business, even in the most difficult times, did not stop working with Russian partners, consistently demonstrating its willingness to cooperate regardless of the political conjuncture."
Chairman of the Committee on economic policy and strategic planning of St. Petersburg Valery Moskalenko, in turn, briefly presented the efforts made by the Government of St. Petersburg to increase the revenue side of the budget, not from tax revenues, but from the monetization of intellectual property. He spoke about the upcoming issue and the advantages of the "Unified map of St. Petersburg". "Since may 1, the issue of Bank cards with an expanded capacity of the chip will be carried out, allowing to pay for travel on transport, including medical applications and loyalty programs. Currently, on joining the system said about 2 thousand stores," said V. N. Moskalenko. Also, according to the Chairman of the profile Committee, will be developed and "guest card", designed for tourists visiting our city.
Minister of economy, innovation, digitalization and energy of the land of North Rhine-Westphalia Andreas Pinkworth, for his part, spoke about the potential of the earth, which he represents. Like St. Petersburg, it is a major industrial, cultural and scientific center. "The heart of Germany is beating here," said the head of the German delegation and in conclusion spoke about the need to make maximum efforts for joint development.
In addition, the foreign Ministry Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for inter-social cooperation Dirk Visa once again drew attention to the fact that the representative delegation of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which arrived to participate in the German Week in St. Petersburg, shows the importance of our relations. "Times pose a great challenge for us. Now it is especially important to build bridges," he said.
Also Vize D. recalled the joint statement of Russian foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German foreign Minister Haiko Maas, prepared for the 75th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. This shows that "we consciously look at the past and jointly go to the future," he concluded.
In addition, Dirk Wiese said that the German Week in St. Petersburg opens a number of important Russian-German events, including the forthcoming conference of twin cities in June, in which the participation of foreign Ministers of our countries, and the Forum of civil societies of Russia and Germany "St. Petersburg dialogue"is planned. According to him, this is a clear signal about the importance of relations with Russia.
Chairman of the Committee on science and higher education Andrei Maksimov told the guests about the cooperation of Germany in terms of University exchanges and projects. "From personal experience I will say that the best students I had were from Germany. Many of them continue to work at the intersection of the interests of Russia and Germany," Maximov shared. However, he complained that the total number of foreign students studying in St. Petersburg (28 thousand people), the number of students from Germany is relatively small.
This remark caused a lively response from the German partners. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart said that the last time he worked as a rector and, for its part, is also very highly of the training of students of Russia and St. Petersburg. (Reference: Andreas Pinkwart from 2011 to 2017 was the rector and chair of innovation management and entrepreneurship graduate school of management, Leipzig).
The head of the delegation of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia said that, in his opinion, in the next three years it is possible to triple the number of German students studying in St. Petersburg. To do this, you need a different approach to advertising opportunities in Russia and St. Petersburg as a place to study.
The acting Chairman of the Committee for entrepreneurship and consumer market of St. Petersburg Elena Aseeva in his report said that the business community there is a great demand for cooperation with German partners in the field of information technology, medicine, pharmaceutical industry, automotive industry and auto components production. She also spoke about the plans of St. Petersburg businessmen to take part in exhibitions in Germany dedicated to medical equipment and finished products, and, for her part, offered to establish information exchange and inform German manufacturers about thematic exhibitions held in St. Petersburg.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee on industrial policy and innovation of St. Petersburg Vadim Khrabrov in his story focused on the field of radio electronics and the activities of the cluster of composite materials. According to him, one of the leading St. Petersburg enterprises has prepared specific proposals for cooperation in the field of smart and safe city for German partners.
At the end of the long negotiations, the presentation of the competitive advantages of the Special economic zone "St. Petersburg"was held. Its General Director Tamara Rondaleva spoke about tax preferences for residents and simplification of customs procedures (SEZ "St. Petersburg" has its own customs post). According to her, it saves investors up to 30% of time and investments.
The proposal was particularly interested in the German side. A. Pinkwart spoke about the need to involve the Agency for economic development of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia NRW in this work.Invest for the purpose of advertising opportunities of the Special economic zone "St. Petersburg" for German investors.