Press release, General Affairs and External Relations, Competitiveness (Internal market, Industry and Research), Transport, Telecommunications and Energy

EU-Russia Summit in Helsinki on 24 November

15 Nov 2006, 13:40 en fr de fi sv

Finland, the current holder of the EU Presidency, will organise the EU-Russia Summit in Helsinki on Friday, 24 November. The EU delegation will be led by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and the Russian delegation by President Vladimir Putin. The EU will also be represented by President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana.

The summit will focus on cooperation between the European Union and Russia in areas such as energy, the environment, education, culture and justice and home affairs. Key international issues, such as the situation in Iran, the Middle East, the Western Balkans and North Korea will also be discussed. A concrete aim of the summit is to agree to launch negotiations for a new framework agreement between the EU and Russia. The agreement is to include wide-ranging trade and energy policy issues. The summit has been prepared in several Permanent Partnership Council meetings during Finland's EU Presidency.

The EU-Russia Summit will be paralleled with a separate high-level Northern Dimension meeting. The EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland, the partners of the Northern Dimension, will attend the meeting. The aim is to adopt a new Northern Dimension Framework Document to replace the current Northern Dimension Action Plans. The framework document will turn the Northern Dimension into a common policy, to be pursued by all Northern Dimension parties as of the beginning of 2007.

Programme

N.B. Accreditation is required for media representatives on the Presidency website at www.eu2006.fi/accreditation. More information on media arrangements and, in particular, on photo opportunities is available on the Presidency website at www.eu2006.fi/calendar/vko47/en_GB/1159261767620.



Friday, 24 November



10.00 EU-Russia Summit, House of the Estates

12.15 Family photo

12.30 Lunch hosted by Prime Minister Vanhanen

14.30 High-level Northern Dimension meeting together with the Prime Ministers of Norway and Iceland, House of the Estates

15.15 Family photo for the Northern Dimension meeting, House of the Estates

15.30 Press conference of the EU-Russia Summit and the Northern Dimension meeting, Helsinki City Hall. Media representatives are requested to arrive at the City Hall for security check by 15 at the latest. A webcast of the press conference can be followed live on the website of Finland's EU Presidency at www.eu2006.fi/webcasts.



Further information: Johan Schalin, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 9 1602 2068; Päivi Laine, Counsellor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5616; Sanna Kangasharju, Deputy Head of Information, Government Communications Unit, tel. +358 9 1602 2175 or +358 40 731 9915; and on media arrangements Johanna Eskola, Press Attaché, Secretariat for Finland's EU Presidency, tel. +358 40 779 9613

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