Brussels, 26/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Eurosystem, i.e. the European Central Bank (ECB), as well as the national central banks of twelve countries in the Euro zone and the Bank of Russia are holding their first joint seminar in Helsinki this week. The seminar objective, in which Finnish and Russian MPs are also participating, as well as representatives of the European Commission and the Irish presidency, is to strengthen dialogue and relations between the Bank of Russia and the ECB. The ECB is currently in charge of coordinating a technical assistance programme funded by the EU on banking supervision in Russia, together with the central Russian bank. The seminar started with a speech by president of the Bank of Finland, Matti Louekoski, who welcomed the rapid rate of economic growth in Russia. Mr Louekoski said "the European Union is fortunate to have one of the fastest growing economies as its neighbour". He thought that the EU and Russia should make additional efforts to get to know each other better and increase their cooperation. With this as a background, the Helsinki seminar constitutes an excellent opportunity to move forward in this direction, underlined ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet.