EU-Russia summit: results

Russia and the European Union will soon start implementing the
"Partnership for Modernization" program, Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev said at the opening ceremony of the 25th Russia-EU session,
ITAR-TASS reports. The chairman of the Council of Europe, Herman Van
Rompay, and the chairman of the European Commission will also take
part in the session.
"During the Stockholm meeting we discussed the idea of partnership for
modernization and decided that this will become a motto of our
relations for the next years. Today we will announce the
implementation of this strategy. I hope this will give a substantial
impetus to our relations," Medvedev said.
This program provides for closer cooperation in such spheres as
innovations, joint scientific research, energy-saving and others. The
president also praised an agreement on the security of top-secret
information.
 Medvedev also noted that the meeting will see a discussion of
cooperation between Russia and the European Union on global issues
such as the Iranian nuclear program, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the
settlement of conflicts in the Middle East.
Russia and the EU believe that the gas pipeline "South Stream" will
become vital for European energy, Medvedev said.
"We have worked on the diversification of gas-and-oil supply routes.
Moreover we successfully implement joint projects such as "Nord
Stream". We expect that "South Stream" will turn into a trans-European
energy network," the Russian president said.
He also noted the great progress in developing European energy
security, which was achieved due to close cooperation.
A potential EU-Russia visa-free regime is also on the agenda. The
issue was expected to become one of the key topics in the summit's
memorandum, a document traditionally summing up progress and outlining
further priorities of the Partnership for Modernization. However the
president noted that there were several issues for debate and
difficulties which should be resolved before the start of visa-free
travel between the EU and Russia.