The Interests of the Federal Republic of Germany in East-West Cooperation in Energy: Conditions and Chances for Realization

For the Federal Republic of Germany the importance of East-West economic relations goes far beyond the 6 per cent share in its foreign trade. Like, for example, Austria, the Federal Republic regards this trade as a product of its historical ties with East European countries, justified and favoured by its geographical location between West and East Europe. In 1932 German-Soviet trade, for example, reached one third of the Soviet Union’s trade volume (1). Close relations also prevailed in the field of cooperation. In the second half of the 1920s, the Soviet Union concluded 40 per cent of its agreements on technical aid and 32 per cent of its licensing agreements with Germany (2). Trade relations between other East European countries and Germany were of similar orders of magnitude. World War I l and its aftermath led to the development in Europe of two integration areas with different economic systems and relatively minor economic interrelations. That affected, in particular, trade between Germany and the East Euro­pean countries. The development of economic relations in the 1960s, however, was instrumental in suppressing the antagonistic elements in East-West relations just as, in the reverse sense, the détente policy of the early 1970s favoured the dynamic develop­ment of economic relations. Today the Federal Republic of Germany is the most important Western trading partner of all CMEA member states. Likewise, for the Federal Republic, East-West relations are a vital economic and political factor, which it tries to incorporate into the network of its economic and political foreign relations.