Putin prepares for EU trade talks

The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and the Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson attended the EU-Russia summit in London on 4 October 2005. The meeting was hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair and attended by President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian Ministers. The chief focus of the Summit was implementation of the four 'common spaces' agreed at the last EU-Russia Summit in May 2005. These encompass a wide range of policy areas from economic issues to environment and energy, security matters, culture and education. The leaders also looked ahead to the future of the EU-Russia relationship and the current Partnership and Co operation Agreement. Intensive work took place to make maximum progress on two agreements on visa facilitation and readmission ahead of the Summit.