OREANDA-NEWS. Mr. Otto Hans Van Maerssen - Consul General of the United States in Yekaterinburg - arrived to VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation on a scheduled visit. Mr. Van Maerssen has been appointed as Consul General in August 2013. This visit to VSMPO was his first attendance of Russian production facilities.

During the visit to Salda facilities, the Consul was accompanied by Nikolay Melnikov (Vice Director General - VSMPO Executive Director), Oleg Leder (Deputy Director General for Marketing and Sales) and Anton Kantor (Head of Aerospace Marketing and Sales).

Mr. Van Maerssen visited several corporate business units: Forging Complex (Shops 21 & 22) and Melting Shop 32. Further he attended Ural Boeing Manufacturing (UBM) - Russian-American Joint Venture.

I would like to gain an insight into Russian business and this is one of the reasons for my visit. You know, that our Consulate, among other issues, aims at promotion of Russian and US companies' cooperation. I could not refrain from coming here, because the JV between VSMPO and Boeing is an excellent example of successful cooperation.

The production facilities that I saw here are much larger that I could imagine. And I was impressed by high-level technology at UBM Joint Venture.

At the end of his visit, Mr. Van Maerssen responded to questions asked by VSMPO Press Office newsmen. He emphasized that he will visit VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation ones again to meet Mikhail Voevodin, PSC VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation CEO.

I would like to thank VSMPO and UBM top management for their warm welcome. I appreciate their kind attention and time they spent with us. It was very important for me to understand the process of cooperation between Russian and US business and your company was an excellent example.