June 27, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1429

KHANTY-MANSIYSK (Russia), June 26: EU leaders on Thursday began their first major summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, holding talks in Siberia expected to touch on energy and unrest in ex-Soviet Georgia.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, met Medvedev for dinner at the opening of a two-day summit in the remote oil town of Khanty-Mansiysk.

The formal launch of talks on a legally-binding cooperation agreement, the summit has also been billed as a chance for the EU to get to know Medvedev after eight years of often strained relations with his predecessor Vladimir Putin.

“We will begin our relationship with him,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. “I don’t think there will be a profound change, a change of substance, but it’s true that there will be a different tone.” Officials said energy would be high on the agenda, with Europe looking to help its companies secure a slice of Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves as Russia demands access to lucrative European energy markets.

But the setting of the summit in the heart of a region that produces 7.5 per cent of global oil was interpreted by many as a sign Russia will drive home the strength of its energy hand.

Another potential flashpoint is Russia’s treatment of pro-western neighbour Georgia and Moscow’s close ties to a separatist region there, Abkhazia.

Germany’s influential chancellor, Angela Merkel, said on Wednesday that Berlin was “concerned about the steps that have been taken by Russia” in Abkhazia.

“The EU can play a role,” said Solana. “I hope we can resume the bilateral relations between Georgians and the Abkhaz and create the necessary confidence” between the two parties, but also between Russians and Georgians, he added.

However Medvedev emphasized the continued relationship with Abkhazia by holding an unusual meeting on Thursday with the leader of the separatists, Sergei Bagapsh.

Bagapsh defended the “exclusive” importance of the Russian peacekeeping force in Abkhazia and said it could not, as Georgia wants, be replaced.

Sabre-rattling between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia has grown stronger since April when Moscow said it would establish formal ties with the separatist government and then boosted peacekeeping troops in the region without Tbilisi’s consent.

Other issues likely to be discussed include Russian objections to the independence of Kosovo and strained ties between Moscow and former Eastern bloc countries, including Poland and Lithuania.

The proposed new cooperation agreement is intended to cover the whole of Russia’s relations with the EU and replace an existing one dating from 1997.

“The aim is to conclude a strategic agreement that will provide a comprehensive framework for EU-Russia relations for the foreseeable future,” read the text of a proposed joint statement, which said talks will start in Brussels on July 4.

A Kremlin official on Wednesday was quoted as saying the talks on the agreement would take a year at best before the 27 EU nations can attempt to ratify it. An EU official was more pessimistic, telling AFP it would more likely take 18 to 24 months.

Ahead of the talks both sides talked up Medvedev’s presidency as an opportunity to turn a new page in relations.

The European Commission said in a statement earlier this week that it was “encouraged” by the public comments of Medvedev. Russia’s ambassador to Brussels, Vladimir Chizhov, spoke of “opening a new chapter in the relationship between Russia and the EU.”—AFP