Medvedev to hold talks with Finnish premier
MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is due to meet with his Finnish counterpart Juha Sipila in St. Petersburg, on Friday, to discuss key issues concerning trade, business, investment and energy cooperation between the two countries.
It will be Sipila's first visit to Russia as Finnish prime minister, as well as his first meeting with Medvedev.
"Although the negative political background and the policy of the European Union, in which Finland holds membership, is affecting bilateral ties and practical interaction, it is possible to say that the good neighborly potential accumulated over the past decade has allowed Russia and Finland, in general, to maintain the constructive, pragmatic and non-confrontational nature of their relations," an official from the Russian government's executive office has said.
Steps have been taken on a regular basis to bolster the contractual and legal framework of the two countries' bilateral cooperation, which is currently regulated by some 90 interstate and intergovernmental documents.
"The agreement between the governments of the Russian Federation and Finland, on cooperation and interaction when providing icebreaking services in the Baltic Sea, came into force on January 15, 2016," the official said.
Furthermore, "the issue of establishing a mechanism of bilateral interaction, to safeguard children's rights in conflict situations in Russian-speaking and mixed families living in Finland, remains a matter of principle for Russia," he said.
"Effective forms of such cooperation between the relevant agencies of Russia and Finland have been developed over the past few years. Lists of contact persons responsible for these matters in these agencies have been exchanged on a yearly basis since 2012," he said.
Russia and Finland have also been interacting in a constructive manner within regional formats in the Northern Europe and the Arctic, such as the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Arctic Council and the Northern Dimension, the official said.
