TOMSK, April 26 (RIA Novosti) - At a meeting in Tomsk, Central Siberia, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel focused on economic issues, a presidential aide said Wednesday.
"President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel have opened the latest round of comprehensive Russian-German consultations," Sergei Prikhodko said, adding that key Russian and German ministers were also taking part.
He said that in the course of a one-on-one meeting, the Russian and German leaders gave special priority to bilateral cooperation in the energy sphere, in particular the commitment by Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom to honor its obligations to Germany and other EU member countries.
"I would like to stress that the conversation has been intense and extremely frank," Merkel said. "This shows that our partnership has a strategic character."
