There will be signed no deals on the issues during the summit, Ambassador Fernando Valenzuela said in an interview with newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Over the last year, the EU and Russia have made major progress on the visa issue, and a number of the big EU countries, including Germany, are reported to be positive about a new travel regime. The summit in Rostov-On-Don is expected to make further progress on the issue, but a breakthrough deal is unlikely to be presented.
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“Most probably, no concrete dates will be announced in Rostov. However, the objectives will be set and defined, something which is necessary for us to reach our goal”, the EU’s top representative in Russia said.
He confirmed, however, that the summit participants might agree on intermediate steps on further visa and travel facilitation. “While moving towards a visa-free travel regime, we can make two-ways travelling easier and more comfortable for both Russians and Europeans”, he underlined. Before visa-free travel can be introduced, the issue of biometric passports, migration across Russia’s southern borders and the problem of readmission needs to be resolved, Valenzuela stressed.
The summit, which takes place in the period 28-31 May, will also follow up on the “Partnership for Modernization”, an initiative launched during the Swedish chairmanship period in the EU Council.
Mr. Valenzuela told the newspaper that progress on the partnership has been substantial, but that the EU is not yet ready to announce concrete projects within the initiative. He confirms however that the parts are about to agree on several of the fields of the partnership cooperation.
Read also: Modernizing Russia
Talking about the WTO, the EU representative maintains that it is now 90 percent up to Russia whether the country will become member of the trade club in 2010 or not. Bilateral talks between the parts have been almost completed and only a few important issues are left to settle, Valenzuela said.
