The prime minister is to participate in an EU-Russia innovation forum and hold talks with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen, a press release from the Finnish government reads.
In his opening speech at the innovation forum, PM Vanhanen highlighted the interdependence of the Finnish and Russian economies and maintained that economic modernization is now an increasingly important issue in EU-Russia relations.
The forum is held just one day before the EU-Russia Summit in Rostov-On-Don, where a new Modernization Partnership is expected to be signed.
Vanhanen and Putin will today also sign a 50-year bilateral deal on leasing the Saimaa Canal to Finland. The 43-kilometre waterway connects Lappeenranta and the formerly Finnish city of Vyborg. It is used for freight transport and tourist cruises. The pact replaces an earlier one signed with the Soviet Union in 1963.
The two premiers will also visit Lappeenranta railway station, where they are to officially launch the new Allegro high-speed rail link between St Petersburg and Helsinki. State Railways VR says the train will initially cut the travel time between the two cities to three and a half hours, and later to three hours. Now the trip takes five and a half hours, the press release informs.
