EU-Russia summit targets closer bilateral ties
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European Union (EU) and Russia will hold their 26th summit next week to discuss issues of common interests, the European Commission said on Friday.
The summit scheduled on Dec. 7 in Brussels to discuss global, bilateral and regional issues, in an effort to enhance the cooperation and relations between the two sides.
"The summit will be an important opportunity to strengthen EU- Russian engagement," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said ahead of the meeting.
The EU will be represented by Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, while Russia will be represented by its President Dmitry Medvedev.
Other high-ranking officials will also attend the summit, including EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina.
On this occasion, the two sides will discuss global issues, in particular the global economic environment as a follow-up of the Seoul G20 summit, and climate change, which is currently discussed at Cancun.
The talks on bilateral relations will focus on the state of play of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and trade-related issues, the state of play of the negotiations on a new EU-Russia agreement, the partnership for modernization, as well as energy, justice, freedom, human rights, the rule of law and visa issues.
Russia's accession to the WTO, which is part of a multilateral process, is a precondition to start discussions on the establishment of a free trade area, according to Hilde Hardeman, who is in charge of external relations at the European Commission. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is expected to be signed in the margin of the summit.
The new agreement between EU and Russia, which is currently under negotiation, will cover numerous issues, such as trade, investment and energy, and will replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which was signed in 1997.
As leaders have agreed on a methodology on how to move to visa free travel, discussions will aim at trying to facilitate the regime.
The regional issues, which will be discussed at the plenary, will cover stability in the common neighborhood including Ukraine, the Iranian nuclear program, and exchange of views on the OSCE summit in Astana as well as on frozen conflicts in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Transnitria.
At the summit, leaders are expected to reaffirm their full support for Georgia's territorial authority, said Stefan Tressing, who is in charge of external relations at the Council of the European Union.
However, the direction of discussions on the Iranian nuclear program are not yet defined as talks between the EU and Iran, which are scheduled to be held on Dec. 6-7 in Switzerland, will not be over by the time of the summit.
