Moscow, 18/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The EU/Russia Summit ended in Moscow on Thursday with the adoption of a joint declaration (which we shall be publishing in EUROPE/Documents) that states:
- Dialogue and cooperation on questions of foreign and security policy must be deepened, including the future development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and European projects regarding civil and military crisis management;
- EU enlargement eastwards has to lead to an increase in the volume of trade between Russia and the future new members, and with the EU in general. In this same context of enlargement, "practical solutions" will have to be found for questions still in suspense concerning Kaliningrad (transit, visa, etc.) with the participation of the new member countries of Eastern Europe;
- A political solution will have to be "urgently" found in Chechnya. Moscow says it is prepared to co-operate with the EU in the framework of humanitarian assistance programmes for the Chechen population;
- The development of an free and independent press, freedom of speech and plurality of the media are "essential democratic ingredients and central values for a genuine EU/Russia partnership";
- In the field of trade, the two sides undertook to abolish "as quickly as possible" obstacles that remain to bilateral trade and investments, notably by harmonizing technical standards and legal provisions that govern trade. The EU also repeated its support for Russia's rapid membership of the WTO as soon as it meets the criteria;
- Regarding energy cooperation, the two sides aim to establish a "strategic partnership". To that end, it is essential to encourage European investments and the transfer of technologies towards Russia, which means that Moscow has to render its energy sector transparent and legally stable. Experts are now setting out the modalities to allow for the development of this cooperation; a final report will be submitted to the next EU/Russia Summit, scheduled to be held in the second half of the year.
