EU-Russia summit built trust, no agreements reached (Roundup)

May 22, 2009, 12:28 GMT

   Khabarovsk, Russia - EU and Russia leaders were positive Friday about the outcome of a two-day summit in the Russian Far East, despite negotiators having failed to reach an agreement on an energy pact between the two powers.

   'This meeting has strengthened mutual trust, which is important,' said Czech President Vaclav Klaus, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency.

   At a press conference broadcast live on Russian state television, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.

   He stressed the 'strategic character of relations' between Russia and the EU.

   Russia invited the EU leaders to Khabarovsk near the border with China, seven time zones east of Moscow, to appreciate the country's vastness and the distances over which Russia's oil and gas were being transported.

   At the summit, Russia pressed for its rapid admittance into the World Trade Organization.

   Relations had soured when Moscow cut off gas supplies to Europe in a standoff with Ukraine, and in relation to Russia's conflict with Georgia.

   Little progress was made on energy issues as the EU asked Russia and Ukraine to take all necessary efforts to prevent a recurrence of January's gas standoff.

Russia at the same time called on the EU to urge Ukraine to pay its debts to Russia, delegates to the summit said, with Medvedev repeating a request to Brussels to extend credit to Kiev.

   Medvedev also reiterated calls for a new energy charter, saying he hoped the EU leaders would consider Russia's ideas regarding a new legal basis for dealing with oil and gas.

The EU's recent push for closer relations with countries in the former Soviet sphere of influence also remained up in the air.

EU chief diplomat Javier Solana said the two parties wanted to have intensive discussions over the issue over the next two months.

The EU leadership has dismissed Moscow's concerns that the Eastern Partnership launched in early May was attempting to drive a wedge between Russia and the six participating former Soviet republics.