Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will start a two-day state visit to Finland on Monday with energy and timber cooperation atop the agenda, said a presidential aide on Sunday.
The negotiations between Medvedev and his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen will focus on fuel and energy cooperation, the Itar-Tass news agency cited presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko as saying.
The negotiations will highlight the Nord Stream project, a gas pipeline which links Russia and the European Union (EU) via the Baltic Sea and can transport up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually, said Prikhodko.
"Moscow hopes for the strong Finnish support to the Nord Stream project," he said, adding that Russia hopes the Finnish government could approve the project.
Some countries, including Sweden and Estonia, questioned the environmental safety of the Baltic Sea pipeline earlier.
Meanwhile Medvedev and Halonen plan "to have a detailed discussion of cooperation in the timber industry, especially as many Finnish paper and pulp plants run on Russian raw materials," said Prikhodko.
Besides energy cooperation, Medvedev will specify his proposal of a new European security treaty during the upcoming visit.
"As the 35th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act will be marked in 2010, the upcoming speech of the Russian president is a good opportunity to define the Russian attitude to Euro-Atlantic security, primarily the Russian initiative of a legally binding European security treaty," Prikhodko noted.
Medvedev may also address other international issues such as Russia's interaction with the EU and a possible cut of visa formalities between Russia and Finland, the presidential aide added.
Source:Xinhua
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