European Union (EU) leaders hope to persuade Russia to finalize a pact on cleaning up dangerous nuclear waste in Russia's far north at a summit in Moscow this week.
Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, European Commission President Romano Prodi and foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana will travel to Moscow for the one-day summit on Thursday.
They will meet President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and their agenda will likely include the nuclear clean up pact, Russia's hopes for admission to the World Trade Organization and energy cooperation.
The EU will also likely reissue a call for Russia to speed up a political settlement to the conflict in Chechnya, where guerrilla attacks on Russian forces continue and tens of thousands of refugees remain homeless.
The clean-up pact, which also involves the United States and Norway, could release hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with nuclear waste such as spent reactors from submarines and spent fuel rods, in northern Russia and on the Kola peninsula.
"There is some hope that this can be finalized at the summit," said Sweden's ambassador to Russia Sven Hirdman.
The pact, a Swedish EU presidency priority, was signed in 1999. Implementation has been delayed by wrangling over who would be liable if there was an accident in the clean up.
Western states also want to convince Russia to remove tax and duties if equipment has to be imported or bought in Russia.
ENERGY EXPORTS
Hirdman and a Russian government official said Moscow and the EU would also discuss Russian ambitions to export electricity and gas to Europe.
"Our goal is that the infrastructure necessary to develop deposits and energy delivery will be provided with investment. One of the goals was to attract European investment, private investment and investment from the European Investment Bank," said a Russian government official.
Hirdman said the two sides were taking stock of what future energy needs might be, how Russia could meet them, what the state of Russia's energy infrastructure was and what kind of investment was needed.
International issues such as the Middle East and the Balkans were expected to be discussed during a working lunch after the formal talks in the Kremlin in the morning -- MOSCOW (Reuters)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
