The Russian president begins a two-day visit to Finland on Tuesday. The two presidents are to discuss bilateral relations and international issues like the Barents-, and Baltic Sea cooperation, a source in Kremlin told the news-agency Itar-Tass.
The source also says the two presidents will discuss interaction in regional formats. The Barents cooperation is based on two levels, the state cooperation and the regional cooperation in the north of Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden.
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According to Itar-Tass, the bilateral trade between Russia and Finland has increased by more than five-fold over the last 10 years and Finland’s accrued direct investments on the Russian marked have eight-fold. In the first quarter of 2010 the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 20 percent to five billion dollars.
During the two-days visit to the Finnish president’s summer-house in Naantali near Turku, Medvedev will also discuss the strategic partnership between Russia and the EU, including the movement towards visa-free rules and the Partnership for Modernization, in addition to some regional issues.
Read also: Russia, Finland eye Arctic cooperation
This is the second time the Russian president visits Finland this year. In April Medvedev paid a state visit to Finland. On Wednesday, Medvedev will meet with Finland’s newly elected Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi. In one of her first statements to the press, Finland’s Prime Minister said she will invite her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to join her for moose hunting.
Last summer, president Halonen visited Medvedev at the Russian president’s summer residence in Sochi.
