Press Release: EU-Russia Summit, Helsinki, 24 November 2006

Commission President José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Council and Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, Javier Solana High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, will meet Russian President Putin for the EU-Russia Summit in Helsinki on 24 November 2006. Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, and Russian Government Ministers including Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and German Gref, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, will also attend. The main topics on the agenda will be discussions of preparatory work underway for greater economic integration of Russia and the EU, Energy, progress in the implementation of the Common Spaces Road Maps, international issues including the Middle East, Iran, North Korea, Western Balkans, Belarus and South Caucasus, and a new framework for the Northern Dimension policy. In the margins of the summit Commission Vice President Barrot will meet Russian Minister of Transport Levitin with the aim of reaching agreement on progressive abolition of payments for Siberian overflights.