By RIA Novosti,
Brussels : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend a meeting of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council in Brussels on Monday, a ministry spokesman said.
Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of current EU president Sweden, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner will also attend the meeting.
The talks are expected to focus on the preparations for the EU-Russia summit, scheduled for November 18 in Stockholm, as well as on a new partnership and cooperation agreement between Russia and the European Union.
The current Russia-EU agreement expired in late 2007, but was automatically extended. In early October, the sixth round of talks on the new agreement took place in Brussels.
The previous Russia-EU summit took place on May 21-22 in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk. Russia-EU summits are held twice a year – once in Russia and once in the country holding the European Union’s rotating presidency.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said Moscow is also expected to discuss a visa-free regime between Russia and the EU, adding it was one of the goals of the Russia-EU strategic cooperation.
The agenda of the talks will also include Russia-EU economic cooperation and a range of international issues, such as Medvedev’s initiative to develop a European security treaty and Iran’s nuclear problem.
Meetings of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council are a key platform for discussions between Russia and the European Union.
A PPC meeting on environmental protection will take place in Moscow on November 10, and another meeting, to focus on freedom, security and justice, is scheduled for December 2 in Stockholm.