Despite a rapid downturn in both economies, German companies are planning to ramp up long-term investments in Russia, a move likely to increase Germany’s dependence on its largest trading partner.

Troubled finances can strain many a relationship. But the marriage of business interests between Russia and Germany is strengthening even as the global financial crisis deepens.

 

A Volkswagen under assembly last summer in Kaluga in Russia, a country where Germans plan to make more investments.

 

Nowhere was this growing business connection more apparent than at a top-level gathering last month at a castle overlooking the Elbe River. Many of the hundreds of guests oozed confidence that, despite the conflict in Georgia and the storm in world finance, Russia and Germany would deepen their centuries-old bonds — perhaps even realizing a dream long held by some of binding Russia closer to the West.

 

“The long-term goal is about integrating the Russian economy with Europe,” said Peter Danylow, director of the East and Central European Association, an independent business body that promotes contacts between Germans and Eastern countries. “We are a long way from that. But Germany is not prepared to give up. There is too much at stake.”

 

Russia’s vast natural resources and Germany’s engineering skills bring the countries together more often than they drive them apart. Today, the relationship is centered on Germany’s thirst for Russian oil and natural gas, as well as on Russia’s need for capital investment and German manufacturing acumen.

 

German exports to Russia are vital to the continued flowering of the small and midsize German companies that are the backbone of its export prowess. Their presence in Russia has nearly doubled in five years, to more than 4,600, from 2,500 in 2003, said Peter Schulze, a professor of international politics and a Russia expert at the Georg-August-University in Göttingen. Of these, more than 90 percent are midsize companies known as Mittelstand, which produce things as diverse as machine tools, automobiles and chemicals.

 

Last year, 3 percent of all German exports went to Russia, and trade volume between the countries reached 57 billion euros, or $73.1 billion. In the first quarter of this year alone, Germany sent 25 percent more goods and services to Russia, according to Klaus Mangold, chairman of the Ost-Ausschuss, an influential group that promotes Germany’s economic interests throughout Russia and the former Soviet bloc.

 

German companies are also present in the energy sector — although they have been careful not to present a competitive threat to Russian firms. “With some exceptions, the German companies tend to keep away from the big high-profile projects,” Mr. Schulze said.