RUSSIA-EUROPEAN UNION PERMANENT PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL (PPC) MEETING IN LUXEMBOURG

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

On April 27 the first meeting of the Russia-European Union Permanent Partnership Council (PPC) was held in Luxembourg at Foreign Ministers' level.

The talks centered on the theme of the European Union enlargement. A Joint Statement on the EU Enlargement and Russia-EU Relations was adopted setting forth the political obligations of the European Union to minimize the trade-and-economic consequences of the EU enlargement for the interests of Russia and to preserve Russian exporters' traditional flows of goods and outlet markets to the ten entrant countries. An important element of the Statement is the provision on the observance of the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

The Russian side emphasized the need for taking specific targeted EU measures to improve the situation of the Russian-speaking minority in Latvia and Estonia. In the course of the meeting a Protocol to the Russia-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) extending the PCA to the new members of the European Union was signed. It is stipulated that, until its ratification, the Protocol will be applied on a temporary basis from May 1, 2004.

A thorough exchange of views on preparations for the next Russia-EU summit in Moscow on May 21, 2004, took place. It is expected that the summit will adopt the first concrete decisions regarding the ways and schedule for implementing the concept of four common Russia-EU spaces (in the fields of economy; freedom, justice and the supremacy of law; external security; science, education and culture) in accordance with the outcome of the summit meeting in St. Petersburg (May 31, 2003).

The similarity or identity of the sides' positions on pressing international issues - Iraq, Middle East settlement, Cyprus, Afghanistan - were noted.

April 28, 2004