Economic cooperation tops British wish list for EU-Russia relations

'We need to develop our relations in three areas,' announced British Prime Minister Tony Blair today at the plenary session of the EU-Russia summit in St. Petersburg. Blair said that economic cooperation was the top priority, with collaboration in the energy sector being particularly important. The second area he mentioned was the fight against international crime. Blair said that joint work in this area was extremely important. 'We know what steps need to be taken in order to improve the situation,' he said.

The third area that the British Prime Minister considers important is the fight against terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and drugs. He also said that moving to a political process and political dialogue was absolutely the right way to resolve the Chechen problem.