Russian, EU ministers to meet in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, May 19 (Itar-Tass) - The ministers of justice and
internal affairs of Russia and some countries of the European Union will
meet on Thursday within the framework of the 14th meeting of the Standing
Russia-EU Partnership Council for freedom, security and justice. The
meeting will be held in the Constitutional Court building in St.
Petersburg.
Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov, Interior Minister Rashid
Nurgaliyev as well as European Commissioner responsible for Internal
Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom, Polish Minister of Justice Krzysztof
Kwiatkowski as well as the interior ministers of Poland and Hungary are
expected to participate in the forum.
Visa free travel between Russia and the European Union will be the key
subject for discussion. Other topics will also include border cooperation,
security and joint actions in the struggle against trans-national
organized crime and cyber crime. A separate package of issues will be
devoted to legal cooperation on criminal, trade and civil cases.
At the recent news conference in Skolkovo near Moscow Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said he would seek the creation of a common
visa-free space with the European Union as a backlog for successful
interaction.
"If we work actively with our European partners and in fact have a
common economic space with them, it would be quite logical to have a
common visa free space," Medvedev said.
"I am going to seek that because I regard it to be a backlog for
successful development of relations with the European Union," the Russian
president emphasized.