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Ugra Rules
Dmitry Medvedev will make his debut at the Russia-EU summit
Today the next, twenty-first, Russia-European Union summit opens in Khanty-Mansiysk. And the first for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The main result expected from this large-scale event is the start of negotiations on a new cooperation agreement . “I think this should be a successful summit. And I hope that we will be able to give impetus to the most difficult problem of recent times - the preparation of a basic agreement between Russia and the European Union,” President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Reuters on the eve of the summit.The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on the eve of his arrival in Khanty-Mansiysk that he was optimistic about the start of the summit. “Our economies are increasingly dependent on each other. Negotiations on a new agreement represent a good opportunity to develop the potential of our strategic partnership,” he is confident.
European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: “This meeting will create the basis for a constructive relationship with the new Russian leadership, upholding our values and promoting the development of areas of mutual interest. At the summit, we also have the opportunity to discuss with Russia the need for non-confrontational solutions to frozen conflicts in our common neighborhood.”
The previous partnership and cooperation agreement between Russia and the EU expired in December 2007, then it was extended for another year. Moscow and Brussels were unable to begin negotiations on a new agreement - they were blocked by Poland and then Lithuania. Only on May 26, 2008, the EU Council of Foreign Ministers approved a mandate for negotiations on a new EU-Russia framework agreement.
“My forecast is that if everything goes well with them (the Europeans), if their positions are not shaken by unnecessary politicized stuff, if they think about how to increase their own capabilities through a strategic partnership with Russia, then they can sign an agreement within a calendar year,” - a source in the Kremlin said yesterday.
Nevertheless, many experts draw attention to significant differences in views on the content of this document. “This should be a serious document, at the same time not burdened with any absolutely specific things. This, after all, should to a greater extent be a framework structure that sets the main development positions for the years ahead,” believes Mr. Medvedev. More specific issues should be regulated by separate bilateral agreements. However, the Europeans, as a Kremlin source says, want to provide for everything in the basic document, down to the smallest detail.
The new agreement between Russia and the EU will address a variety of issues: political cooperation, prospects for deepening economic integration, the creation of a homogeneous competitive environment in energy relations based on the principles of the Energy Charter, closer relations in the field of freedom, security and justice, as well as the mutual opening of educational and scientific systems.
“Both the place and the time of the summit oblige us to look at the entire palette of relationships. We have a lot of joint projects. I will give only one figure, which was quite unexpected even for me. Russia is the third exporter of the EU countries, and the fourth most important market for EU products is the Russian market,” Mr. Medvedev said in an interview with Reuters on the eve of the summit. According to him, it is planned to consider issues of energy and economic cooperation, joint fight against international crimes and social contacts. Global issues such as the stability of financial markets, the growing role of public investment funds, climate change, global warming and the global food crisis will also be discussed.
Russia will touch upon the important topic of introducing a visa-free regime. “For us, the speedy transition to a visa-free regime with European countries is a strategic task. This is not a slogan (everyone already understands that this is reality), it is one of the tools for expanding ties,” said presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko.
The meeting place, as the Kremlin explains, was not chosen by chance. They decided to show the distinguished guests the Russian hinterland. In addition, on Saturday the Europeans will be replaced by representatives of a rare Finno-Ugric group. Dmitry Medvedev will take part in the opening of the Fifth World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples, whose guests will be the presidents of Finland Tarja Halonen, Hungary Laszlo Solyom and Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters. The congress will be held under the motto “Identity and a Changing World.” And it will cover a variety of topics - ethnopolitics and law, culture and language preservation, education and the role of the media, health and demography.