Energy security main agenda at Russia-EU summit
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  • Russia and EU concluded a summit-level meeting on June 27 in Russia's West Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk on a new agreement to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which entered into force on December 1, 1997. The summit concluded with a joint statement which noted that Russia and the EU would hold their first round of talks on new strategic relations in Brussels on July 4. The statement further affirmed that the new agreement to replace the PCA would be built on international obligations binding Russia and the EU, and would contain corresponding institutional clauses to ensure the effectiveness of Russia-EU cooperation.

    Energy security remained the core of Russia-EU relations. Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, asserted that energy cooperation between Russia and the EU would be intensified. Russian President Medvedev on his part stated that Russia would continue with plans to build the new North Stream and South Stream natural gas pipelines under the Baltic and Black Seas, adding that these were commercial projects which should not be politicised1.

    • 1. “Russia EU launch Talks on new strategic relations,” Xinhuanet, June 28, 2008, at news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/28/content_8452402.htm.

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