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Thursday, November 09, 2006

Tarja Halonen - Russia will retain position of serious trade partner in energy sector

Tarja Halonen, president of Finland11–09–2006 Interfax – Helsinki will soon host the Russia-EU summit. Ahead of it Tarja Halonen, president of Finland that currently holds rotating chairmanship in the European Union, granted an interview to Interfax. "One of the objectives of the period of Finland's chairmanship is to agree on the beginning of talks on the new agreement between the EU and Russia," she said. She recalled that the current Russia-EU partnership and cooperation agreement expires in December 2007. "It has been jointly decided to prolong it until the execution of the new agreement," she said. "Probably it will take several years, even if talks on the new agreement begin at the beginning of next year, as Finland plans," Halonen said. She noted that the development of relations between EU and Russia is a priority of Finland's chairmanship. "The invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the unofficial EU summit in Lahti was one of the manifestations of the great significance we attach to relations between the Union and Russia," Halonen said. Speaking of the possibility of setting up a free trade zone between the EU and Russia she said that the implementation of the idea "would benefit both sides." "However, it is possible to advance on the issue only after Russia becomes a member of the World Trade Organization," she said. Halonen hopes that provisions regulating cooperation in the energy sector will be included in the new basic treaty between the EU and Russia. "The definition of a legal groundwork mandatory for both sides for stable cooperation in the energy sector is a key objective of the energy dialogue," she said. "We hope that the new basic treaty between the EU and Russia will contain clear-cut principles regulating cooperation in the energy sector," she said. She said the other key objectives of energy cooperation are "the development of the openness of the market, equal competition, transparency and energy effectiveness." "During the period of its chairmanship Finland is working to deepen the energy dialogue between the EU and Russia." "There are excellent conditions for deeper EU-Russian partnership on energy questions," she said. "A quarter of the energy consumed by the EU comes from Russia and simultaneously the EU is the most important target of energy exports. We are convinced that together with growing demand for energy in the EU Russia will retain the position of a serious trade partner in the energy sector," Halonen aid. Asked whether Finland has any concerns about the construction of the North European gas pipeline she said: "The environmental impact review of the North European gas pipeline is only at the initial stage now." "Today it is too early to evaluate the impact of the project on the environment, however, it should not be underestimated before a thorough study either," Halonen said.

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