Brussels, 22/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - On the fringes of the 21 November General Affairs Council, EU foreign ministers held a 'Northern Dimension meeting' with the foreign ministers of Russia, Norway and Iceland to look at EU policy affecting that area. Representatives of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Arctic Council attended the meeting, along with representatives of banks investing in Northern Europe (the ERBD, EIB, Nordic Investment Bank and the World Bank) and US and Canadian diplomats (attending as observers). The meeting agreed on guidelines for a political statement and new framework for the Northern Dimension, to be adopted in 2006 by Finland (the country holding the Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2006), explains a press release. The guidelines will replace the second Northern Dimension Action Plan, which runs out on 31 December 2006. The idea is to make the Northern Dimension a 'regional expression' in Northern Europe of the four common spaces the EU and Russia have decided to set up in the next few years. The Northern Dimension will retain its own characteristics, like full membership of Norway and Iceland, and pay particular attention to environmental, social and health issues in the region, thereby reinvigorating it.