The 29th Russia-EU summit is being held in St. Petersburg. Russia is represented by President Vladimir Putin, the European Union by President of the European Council Herman von Rompuy and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, RIA Novosti reports.
Putin said that Russia sees no contradiction between Eurasian integration and development of ties with the European Union. Putin noted during the Sunday dinner that about 50% of Russian trade turnover comes from Europe.
The Russian president encouraged journalists who received visas to France for only a day.
Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that journalists received a visa to France and Germany for only one day.
Barroso said that visa-free space and the free trade zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok is a common goal for Russia and the EU. He added that Russian membership in the WTO is a significant achievement.
Putin said that construction of the Southern Stream Gas Pipeline will start in late 2012. He reminded that the project received a boost in December 2011, when Turkey approved construction of the pipeline through an exclusive economic zone.
The Southern Stream is a joint project of Gazprom (Russia), ENI (Italy), Electricity de France (France), BASF (Germany) represented by Wintershall. Fuel will be transported to Europe. The pipeline will run through Bulgaria from the Black Sea (Varna Port) to Serbia from the east to the west. It will be 538 km long. The pipeline will have a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters. It will be expanded to 63 billion cubic meters annually. The project is worth about 8.6 billion euro. It is expected to be launched on December 31, 2015.
