Russian government confers high honor on Heinrich Weiss, Chairman and CEO of the SMS group

The government of the Russian Federation under President Putin has awarded the Chairman of the SMS group, Heinrich Weiss, the "Award of Honor" in recognition of decades of outstanding services to Russian-German relations. This honor is only rarely bestowed on foreigners.

It was presented in Berlin on May 2, 2013 by the Russian Ambassador, Mr. Grinin.

The SMS group built up by Weiss has erected numerous metallurgical plants and rolling mills for the Russian steel and aluminum industry over the past 45 years. As early as 1969, when Weiss served as Managing Director of an SMS subsidiary, he negotiated his first major contract for a mining plant in Moscow. This was followed by large projects with the Soviet steel and aluminum industry in the 1970s and 1980s, and even stronger business as from the year 2000. In the past 10 years alone, the SMS group has attracted orders from Russia totaling more than USD 3.5 billion.

Furthermore, Weiss has dedicated himself for a long time to fostering political relations, especially between 1982 and 2012 as a member of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, and most recently, from 2008 to 2012, as President of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce.

Based on SMS Group information