Russia and Romania to sign political partnership agreement

The Presidents of Russia and the USA will sign a basic political partnership agreement during a visit of the Romanian President to Russia this year, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov announced at a press conference in Bucharest today after negotiations with Romanian President Ion Iliescu. Kasyanov conveyed an invitation to visit Russia to the Romanian President from Vladimir Putin.

According to Kasyanov, the signing of a political partnership agreement will denote "a new stage in the development of relations between Russia and Romania." After the signing of the document, the Russian and Romanian governments will work out a package of agreements in various fields.

In his turn, President Iliescu announced that the text of the basic partnership agreement had already been coordinated by the parties and now they had to set the date of the signing. He called for boosting trade and economic collaboration between Russia and Romania in order to eliminate the existing misbalance in their trade relations.