FINANCIAL CRISIS, ENERGY TO DOMINATE RUSSIA-EU SUMMIT

Yerkir
15:1318/05/2009

MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) – The global financial crisis as well as
European energy and security issues will be the focus of the upcoming
Russia-EU summit, Russia’s EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov said on Monday.

He said the Russian delegation at the meeting in the Russian Far East
city of Khabarovsk, scheduled for May 21-22, will be led by President
Dmitry Medvedev and include several cabinet ministers.

The EU will be represented by Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech
Republic, which holds the EU rotating presidency, European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso, and EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana.

"Cooperation and exchange not only of information, but also of
experience in countering the crisis… would certainly be useful for
both sides," Chizhov said.

He said energy would be the second key topic at the summit, and that
the Russian president had recently put forward an initiative on the
establishment of a new legal framework for energy cooperation.

"It is high time to think about working out a legal framework for
international cooperation, better adapted to the present and the
future," Chizhov said.

Russia has signed but not ratified the European Energy Charter
(1991), over concerns that the charter would allow the EU to demand
the de-monopolization of Russian oil and gas pipelines. Russia-EU
negotiations on the Energy Charter have been ongoing since January
2000.

Chizhov said the summit would also address the situation in the
South Caucasus.

"The situation in the Caucasus will evidently be discussed, primarily
in respect to the consequences of the Georgian act of aggression
against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as other regional issues."

The Armenia-Azerbaijan dispute over Nagorny Karabakh may also be
discussed, he said.

Chizhov said last month that a comprehensive Russia-EU partnership
deal would be considered at the summit.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress