PREVIEW-Medvedev goes to Germany to defend key projects
* Will defend Magna/Sberbank deal on Opel, aide says
* Will seek more support for Nord Stream pipeline
* Germany-Russia trade more than halves in Q1
* Key goal to uphold economic ties
MOSCOW, July 15 (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev will defend a Russia-backed deal to buy German car maker Opel and seek more support for the Nord Stream gas pipeline project when he visits Munich on Thursday, a top Kremlin aide said.
Sergei Prikhodko, the Kremlin's chief foreign policy aide, told reporters that top-level intergovernment consultations in southern Germany would be dominated by efforts to keep afloat bilateral trade and economic ties hit by the global crisis.
Prikhodko said trade between Russia and Germany, its leading business partner, more than halved in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year. He gave no precise figure.
"We will consider during the talks not only straightforward measures of state support for trade and economic relations, but also the prospects for stepping up new forms of broad cooperation," Prikhodko said.
He cited plans by Canadian auto parts group Magna (MGa.TO) to acquire, in partnership with No. 1 Russian lender Sberbank (SBER03.MM), a combined stake of 55 percent in Opel.
"In Munich we will speak out in favour of this deal," Prikhodko said. "It's a good deal. We hope others will support it as well."
The consortium reached a deal with Opel last month, but as negotiations to finalise the acquisition continue, other contenders have emerged for the stake in the unit of bankrupt U.S. auto giant General Motors.
These include Belgium-based RHJ International and China's Beijing Automotive (BAIC).
NORD STREAM Continued...
