Svetlogorsk, 06/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - Speaking in Svetlogorsk on 6 March at a meeting to mark the tenth anniversary of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten broached the problem of Kaliningrad, telling his Russian interlocutors: "Let us move on from sterile argument about things like the format of meetings and start real co-operation on substance (…) We are ready to hold a special meeting of senior officials here in Kaliningrad in May (…) This will encourage good preparation for the Moscow Summit a few days later". On the question of visas and transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia, Mr. Patten noted that "we are working intensively with EU Member States and with Lithuania and Poland to define a position which will help us to make progress in the EU's forthcoming meetings with Russia." "We have asked Russia for information, for example on border movements, and have proposed a series of technical meetings", he recalled, hoping to receive replies "very soon". It is a question of reconciling Russia's desire to ensure easy transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia, "and our own need to ensure our security". He stressed, noting that "we cannot override our basic rules here, including the Schengen acquis, nor undermine the enlargement negotiations themselves". Mr. Patten said he hoped that Russia would soon be able to provide the citizens of Kaliningrad with "valid international passports".
At the meeting, chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and in which former German and Danish Foreign Ministers, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, co-founders of the Baltic Council, participated, discussions also revolved around the Nordic Dimension, which covers several aspects of EU policy in that part of Europe and which, said Patten, "has undeniably made a difference to EU activities across the region".