Prime Minister Vladimir Putin comes to St. Petersburg on Monday to take part in opening of transatlantic shipping route Guayaquil (Ecuador) - Panama Canal - Rotterdam - Bremerhaven - St. Petersburg (Project ECUBEX).
Among other significant political figures who attend the ceremony there would be Prime Minister of Denmark Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Minister of Industry and Competition Policy of Ecuador Javier Abad Vicuna.
ECUBEX is the first direct service between Ecuador and Russia. The service will be on a weekly basis. As expected, opening of the direct route will open new markets for Russian exporters. It also will increase the ability to import fresh fruits from Latin America to Russia.
The EXUBEX Service consists of 6 newly built Ice-Classed container vessels with maximum reefer capacity (600 plugs) and total nominal capacity of 2500 TEU. The operator of the service is the Danish company Maersk Line - the world's largest container carrier.
After the opening ceremony, Putin will carry on a conversation with Lars Lokke Rasmussen. As expected, the heads of two governments will discuss the topical issues of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, the use of advanced technological and organizational expertise of Danish companies in modernizing the Russian economy and the prospects for increasing cooperation between Russia and Denmark.
In addition, the same day, Putin meets the Finnish President Tarja Halonen, who is in St. Petersburg for a working visit. It is expected that Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina will also attend the meeting.