A new comprehensive Russia-EU partnership pact and visa-free regime will again be on the agenda of the Russian-EU summit to be held on May 31-June 1 in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, RIA Novosti reports.
Russia-EU summits are held twice a year – once in Russia and once in the country holding the European Union's rotating presidency.
"An important aspect of the forthcoming summit will be the resumption of dialog on perspectives of mutually abolishing bilateral visa restrictions, which have a negative impact on all spheres of cooperation between Russia and the EU," the Kremlin said.
Russia and the EU announced their "long-term" plans on the visa-free regime at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in 2003. Last November, the sides agreed in Stockholm to start a long-term Partnership for Modernization, which includes a commitment to scrap visa requirements.
Russia's envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said last week that Russia and the EU should speed up the process of abolishing visa requirements. "After seven years it is time to move from a long-term goal to something more concrete," he said.
The sides will also discuss signing a new comprehensive partnership pact to replace a treaty that expired in late 2007, but was automatically extended.
The Russian delegation will be led by President Dmitry Medvedev, the European – by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.
Anti-crisis measures, energy security and climate change will also be on the agenda.
The forthcoming meeting will provide an additional opportunity to exchange opinions on measures to tackle the financial crisis ahead of the G-20 summit to be held in Toronto on June 26-27, the Kremlin press service said on Thursday.
