Visas, WTO and energy main areas of EU-Russia dialogue

One of the issues left unresolved at the EU-Russia summit is visas for Russian citizens travelling to and from the Baltic port of Kaliningrad from the main part of the country. The enclave is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, which are set to join the EU next year. The EU fears that, without strict controls, Kaliningrad could become a gateway for illegal immigrants and rampant organised crime. Some estimates suggest its residents are 65 times poorer than EU citizens. Its AIDS rate is among the highest in Europe. The Rome summit focused on implementation of agreements reached in May in Saint Petersburg. These are on economic coordination, cooperation in domestic and external security - information exchange including terrorism, and culture, education and science. The two sides agreed to pursue talks aimed at securing Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation, by the end of next year. This has been stalled by Moscow's reluctance to raise domestic energy prices to world levels. Speaking at a press conference on the results of the Russia-EU summit on Thursday, Putin said the documents adopted at the summit "reflects both sides' drive for strengthening the legal base of relations." The Russian president said special attention was riveted to the EU expansion and the impact of the EU enlargement on Russia-EU relations. Russia and the European Union have agreed to continue talks on visa-free travelling in the long-term prospects, says a joint statement that the sides issued upon the end of the 12th Russia-EU summit here Thursday. Russian and EU heads of state hailed the results of a recent meeting of their experts, who had examined the conditions for visa-free travelling and had agreed to continue work on flexible provisions of the Schengen agreement that could help introduce simpler travel rules in the future.