As BarentsObserver reported last week, the meetings are held as relations between the countries are improving rapidly. That comes after several years of chilly political relations and sparse contacts. Last year’s EU-Russia summit in Stockholm to a significant extent was a turning point in relations. So was also the October 2009 Barents Euro-Arctic Council session in Murmansk.
Meanwhile, trade relations between the two countries have been developing positively, despite the financial crisis, a Russian ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti. Trade turnover now stands at 5.24 billion USD.
Both bilateral and multilateral issues will be on the agenda. Among the multilateral issues, cooperation in the Baltic Sea, in Northern Europe and the Arctic will the discussed, RIA Novosti reports. Economic cooperation and the proposed EU-Russian Partnership for Modernization will also be key issues, the news agency informs. That is confirmed also by a press note from the Swedish government press service.
Swedish contribution in the modernization partnership could be within the fields of information and telecommunications, medicine, environment and infrastructure projects, the ministry representative says.
Also the Nord Stream project is likely to be on the agenda. The 1200 km long underwater Baltic pipeline will run across the Swedish territorial waters. Construction will start in April this year and gas start flowing in 2011. The Swedish delegation to Moscow includes also Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
