Talking at the press conference today, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev admitted that the disputed zone in the Barents Sea has “complicated Norwegian-Russian relations”. However, good neighbors always need to seek a resolution to difficult questions, he said, adding that a main motivation in the talks has been to have good relations with Norway.
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-I am absolutely convinced that the cooperation between our countries is a positive factor in the development of European relations and that it is of need for our countries and our peoples, Medvedev said at the press conference. –This is a big event in Russian-Norwegian relations and, it seems to me, to the good also for [all of] Europe, the president added.
The president at the same time stressed that with the deal follows a joint responsibility for environment and security in the region. He also said that third-part countries should be included in the developments.
Medvedev in the press conference underlined that regional cooperation between the counties is developing well and that the Barents Euro-Arctic Cooperation and the Arctic Council are “very important for our relations”. Both Norway and Russia today play key roles in the two structures, the main platforms for multilateral cooperation in the High North. The Barents Cooperation has a strong anchoring in the regional level of power.
The importance of this structure can be illustrated by the fact that both the Governors of Murmansk Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast, and the northern Norwegian county of Troms are represented at the meetings in Oslo today.
The meetings between Stoltenberg and Medvedev have also resulted in the signing of several other bilateral agreements. In a ceremony at the Akershus Castle, a total of eight agreements were signed, of them on cooperation within the field of renewable energy, education, meteorology and administrative staff training.
Read joint statements from the meeting at Kremlin.ru (in Russian)
