Russian, Estonian prime ministers meet

The prime ministers of Russia and Estonia, Mikhail Kasyanov and Siim Kallas, at their meeting in St. Petersburg agreed to step up the work of a Russian-Estonian intergovernmental commission, the head of the Government Information Department, Alexei Gorshkov, told journalists on Monday.

The Russian prime minister explained to his Estonian counterpart Russia's position on the Kaliningrad Region (Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea) problem, which is becoming more and acute as the European Union is going to extend eastwards.

Also, the two leaders discussed the situation of ethnic Russians in Estonia and regional cooperation issues.

Opening the meeting, Mikhail Kasyanov reiterated Russia's wish to strengthen good-neighbourly ties with Estonia and solve problems in their relations. He expressed hope that this meeting would give an impetus to the development of bilateral ties and to the preparation of cooperation agreements between the two countries.

The Estonian prime minister expressed satisfaction with the meeting, noting that the previous negotiations between the heads of the Russian and Estonian governments took place ten years ago.