Russia and the European Union: partnership and its potential

Il Presidente Franco Frattini a Mosca

Supported by the Russian Government and jointly with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and the Institute of the World Economy and International Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences, on 21 March this year the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) is conducting an international conference: “Russia and the European Union: partnership and its potential”.

Distinguished Russian and European policy-makers, academics, businessmen, public figures and experts will be discussing steps to be taken to implement the long-term project of Greater Europe – a seamless combination of economic, scientific and technological as well as social potentials of the EU and the Russian Federation, and the entire Eurasian integration process in the longer run.

It will be ten years this spring since Russia and the EU agreed, within the framework of their Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, to create four “common spaces”. With all the positive developments in the relationship between Russia and the EU in the recent years, the level of cooperation falls short of the potential of both parties.

Despite the current difficulties in the relations with the European Union, it is Europe that remains a key priority for Russia in its economy, science and technologies.

The conference will be discussing issues of collaboration between Russia and the European Union, including such areas as:

– Prospects for a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU;

– Preliminary outcomes from the implementation of the “four spaces” concept;

– Stock-taking of various dimensions in the relations between Russia and the European Union; discussing longer-term prospects for these relations;

– Removing obstacles to direct investment by EU countries in Russia, and Russian investment in the EU countries;

– Facilitating greater education and research mobility; Russia and the EU coordinating migration strategies, etc.