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Russia, EU open talks on new pact

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-28 10:02

Russia and the European Union launched long-delayed talks on a new cooperation pact on Friday, with EU chiefs hoping President Dmitry Medvedev would be a more willing partner than his predecessor Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev, who took over from Putin last month, stressed cooperation in his opening remarks to the summit, held in a Siberian oil boom town.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) shakes hands with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at a Russia-EU summit in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk June 27, 2008. Medvedev stressed cooperation at a summit with European Union leaders on Friday, striking a softer pose than his tough-minded predecessor Vladimir Putin. [Agencies]

"We want to move forward to give a new impetus to our relations and overcome problems emerging in the course of their development," the Russian leader said.

But Medvedev also said he was worried by a new tendency by some EU nations to use the bloc to pursue bilateral disputes with Moscow.

"From our point of view, a very alarming tendency is the use of European solidarity to promote the interests of separate members," he said.

The centerpiece of the three-hour meeting was the formal launch of negotiations on the new framework agreement governing the sometimes testy relations between the EU and Russia, its third biggest trading partner. A first round of negotiations on the new pact will be held in Brussels on July 4.

"We, the leaders of the European Union and the Russian Federation, today in Khanty-Mansiysk launched the negotiations for a new EU-Russia agreement to replace the current partnership and cooperation agreement," the leaders said in a joint statement released after the three-hour meeting ended.

The start of the talks was held up for 18 months because new EU members Poland and Lithuania wanted to settle bilateral arguments with their former Soviet master first.

The talks also offered EU chiefs their first opportunity to assess Medvedev, who took office last month. Putin, now Russia's prime minister, is not attending.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he had a chance to get to know Medvedev informally over dinner on Thursday evening.

"He seems to me to be a very open person who really wants to engage, he has a very open personality," Barroso said on Friday.