Sunday, June 3, 2012

Russia-EU summit begins in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG -- Russian President Vladmir Putin will meet with top EU officials during the 29th Russia-EU Summit in St. Petersburg which started on Sunday.
Vladimir Putin (Beta, file)
Vladimir Putin (Beta, file)
Putin will speak with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.
The main topics will be the future of eurozone, bilateral relations between Moscow and Brussels, visa liberalization, pressing international issues and possibilities to renew and deepen the partnership agreement.

Russia and EU’s partnership is based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement from 1994 which came into effect in 1997. It included political dialogue, economy, trade etc.

Russia and the EU started negotiations on the new agreement in 2008.

Russia is the EU’s third biggest foreign trade partner, after the U.S. and China. The EU is also the largest importer of the Russian gas.

Energy will also be one of important topics at the 29th summit.

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