GERMANY-RUSSIA: FIRST LADIES AT THE CRADLE OF FIRST JOINT POST STAMP

BERLIN, June 6 (RIA Novosti) - "Youth Contacts, 21st Century" is the name of a first postal stamp jointly issued by Germany and Russia. It was introduced to the public in Berlin today. The two countries' First Ladies-Lyudmila Putin, the Russian President's wife, and Doris Schroeder-Koepf, wife of Germany's Federal Chancellor-attended the gala.

The idea of a stamp appeared at a maiden German-Russian youth forum, Together into the 21st Century, which Berlin hosted in 2002, Mme Putin and Frau Schroeder patronizing. Now, Germany's federal Finance Ministry and the NGO German-Russian Forum introduced the endeavor to the public.

Co-sponsored by Germany's Finance Ministry and the Marka (Stamp) publishing and commercial center under Russia's Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications, the stamp came from the brush of Alexander Ozolin. It represents two conventionalized human figures flying kites, the color scheme repeating the Russian and German tricolors. The flowing kite tails form a heart. Running under the picture in German and Russian are the words, "Russian-German Youth Contacts, 21st Century". The nominal is 55 eurocents.

Attending the gala were participants of School Exchange, a secondary school get-together soon to finish in Berlin. Its several days were busy with teacher seminars, student circles, and the two countries' education expert exchanges.