A plenary meeting was held in Brussels on July 22, 2010, which summed up the tenth round of talks on a New Russia-EU Framework Agreement. Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU, headed the Russian delegation, and Hugues Mingarelli, the European Commission’s Deputy Director General for External Relations, led the EU delegation.
The parties continued negotiating the text of the agreement. Four sections are in the process of discussion and joint editing: on interaction in the sphere of political dialogue and external security; cooperation in the areas of freedom, security and justice; sectoral economic interaction; and cooperation in questions of culture, education, vocational training, sports and youth. Trade and investment issues of the economic section were discussed in the context of the prospects of Russia joining the WTO, and the establishment of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Agreement was reached to hold the next, 11th round of talks in September-October this year.
