Foreign Ministers Of Russia And Finland To Discuss Eurokarelia Project

Foreign ministers of Russia and Finland will meet in the Finnish town of Joensuu on Thursday to discuss the EuroKarelia project in the framework of the European Union's Northern Dimension policy, reported General Director of the Political Department of the Finnish foreign ministry Marcus Lyra in a RIA Novosti interview. A special body comprising leaders of Russia's and Finland's neighbouring regions will be set up in the framework of the EuroKarelia project to distribute funds allocated by the European Union. This will be the first example of regional cooperation between Russia and the EU, Lyra stressed. Apart from that, the ministers will discuss Kaliningrad-related problems in the light of the contemplated accession of Baltic states to the European Union. According to Lyra, absence of thorny issues in Russian-Finnish relations is the major problem of these relations. Nevertheless, there are certain practical issues that have to be settled, such as border cooperation /namely, erection of new checkpoints on the Russian-Finnish border/ and preparations for upcoming visits /Russian president and prime minister both plan on visiting Helsinki this year/. The agenda of the talks contains a few international issues such as EU enlargement, NATO-related problems, peacekeeping activities of the EU, and creation of a new EU emergency reaction system. Lyra does not rule out that the sides will touch on the situation in conflict zones like the Balkans, the Middle East and probably Korea, a zone recently inspected by a EU delegation. Besides, the foreign ministers will discuss relations between Russia, Finland and Baltic states. The issue is related to the Finnish president's upcoming state visit to Latvia and the Estonian foreign minister's recent trip to Helsinki. Asked whether the Chechnya and the NTV conflict are going to emerge during the talks, Lyra said yes, but only in case the Russian side brings them up. NTV, in his opinion, is a difficult subject. "I assume the Russian leadership has a problem with oligarchs," he explained. In conclusion of the talks, the sides may discuss a few agreements and other documents they intend to sign during the upcoming visits of Russian top leaders.