On 18 October 2010 Mikhail Petrakov, Director of the 1st Department for CIS Countries, MFA of Russia, held consultations in Brussels within the framework of Russia-EU regular political dialogue with representatives of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and European Commission on issues covered by the Working Group on Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia of the EU Council (COEST).
The EU Eastern Partnership and Central Asia Strategy were key topics of the meeting. The EU side was informed of activities and developments in such formats as the Commonwealth of Independent States, Collective Security Treaty Organization, Eurasian Economic Community, Customs Union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The Russian side stressed the importance of harmonizing integration processes in European and Eurasian spaces in accordance with the 2005 Russia-EU Roadmap on the common space of external security.
The consultations also saw a brief exchange of views on a number of regional issues.
