Medvedev, Norway PM to "have regular contacts"
ST. PETERSBURG. April 5 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he and his Norwegian counterpart, Jens Stoltenberg, "came to an agreement that we will have regular contacts not only on environmental issues but on the entire spectrum of our relations."
"My counterpart believes that this is an example of significant and very good-quality cooperation between the two states, and I agree with him," Medvedev told reporters after a meeting with Stoltenberg at which the two prime ministers raised key issues in Russian-Norwegian relations.
"I think [relations between the two countries] have been developing very well over the past few years, and not only the growth of trade cooperation and large-scale investment projects but also the signature of important documents reflect this," Medvedev said.
He added that new agreements had been signed on energy and the extraction of minerals.
Stoltenberg spoke in the same vein. He said he was pleased to meet with Medvedev, a "good friend, good colleague," and argued that Russian-Norwegian cooperation had been very fruitful.
According to Stoltenberg, energy and fishing are booming areas of Russian-Norwegian cooperation. The Norwegian prime minister said that today the two countries together "catch six times as much [fish] as several years ago."
Stoltenberg also said the two countries had reached an agreement on visa-free travel for Russians and Norwegians living in regions near the border between the two states. "That border used to be practically semi-closed, and now it is open," he said. "This is an indication of the cooperation that we have and want to have with Russia."