MOSCOW, November 10 (Itar-Tass) — The Kremlin hopes that the talks between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama at the APEC summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, on November 13 will prove the countries’ drive for maintain constructive cooperation, including in missile defence, presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said on Thursday.
At the same time, he said Russia did not expect any statement or any separate document to be adopted on the results of the talks between the presidents of the two countries. “We’d like to hope that our dialogue on missile defence will be continued in a constructive atmosphere and we are ready for concrete and consistent efforts aimed at reaching any compromise on this issue. It can hardly happen till the yearend. But I’m sure this will happen,” the presidential aide stressed.
According to Prikhodko, the presidents of the two countries will discuss in detail strategic cooperation, including the implementation of the New START Treaty. “Russia believes that the dialogue on missile defence should be directed at giving guarantees saying European missile defence is not targeted against the Russian nuclear strategic forces. We think that it is necessary to work out corresponding military-technical and geographical criteria,” he said.
Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be one of the priority tasks at the talks. “The negotiations are entering the final phase and should be completed shortly. We note the U.S. pragmatic role in this issue and praise President Obama’s efforts on this aspect,” Prikhodko said.
The meeting will allow both parties to sum up the results of cooperation in these years. “Due to the fact that the presidential elections will take place in both countries in 2012, the upcoming talks will have a good opportunity to sum up the results of joint cooperation and give an assessment to the resetting process initiated by Medvedev and Obama,” he said.
The parties will analyse the work of the Presidential Commission, including the implementation of concrete projects within the 20 working groups. Special attention will be paid to the formation of groups for innovation and legal issues. Medvedev and Obama announced about their creation as part of the G-8 summit in Deauville in May. The co-chairmen of these groups will meet in Honolulu.
President Medvedev will also have a series of meetings with his colleagues from other countries, including with the host of the summit, Barack Obama. The Russian president will take part in several events jointly with business communities, Prikhodko said.
The talks with Obama will be held in Hawaii, his “small motherland” (President Obama was born in Hawaii), on November 13. “We are actively preparing for the talks,” the presidential aide said. This will be the second meeting between the Russian and U.S. presidents this year. Previously, they met in France within the G-8 summit in May, he added.
Medvedev is planning to have bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, including with his colleagues from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru, the prime ministers of Japan, Australia and Thailand. At present, the schedule of contacts between the leaders is being coordinated, Prikhodko said, adding, “If we fail to have separate talks with one of the leaders, this will be exclusively conditioned by technical and organisational problems.”
During the summit in Honolulu, Medvedev will have a very intensive agenda. He will confer with representatives of regional business communities. “He [Dmitry Medvedev] is planning to have an informal dinner with a group of businessmen, confer with members of the APEC Business Consultative Council, and meet with participants in the Business Summit. Medvedev is expected to circulate a video address among the summiteers,” Prikhodko added.
“In the course of the summit we are planning to express Russia’s readiness to develop multilateral cooperation in order to ensure further ongoing development of the world and regional economies,” the presidential aide stressed. “Businessmen will be informed about the Russian anti-crisis policy, first of all about modernisation and innovation of the Russian economy, and measures taken to improve the investment and entrepreneurship climate,” he said.
The Russian leader will be accompanied by his aides, Prikhodko and Arkady Dvorkovich, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, governors of Khabarovsk Territory and Primorye Vyacheslav Shport and Sergei Darkin.
Earlier, Dvorkovich said Medvedev will have at least seven bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Honolulu on November 11-13.
Dvorkovich said first of all, President Medvedev would meet with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama. The presidential adviser said the meeting would be long by time and focus on many issues.
According to Dvorkovich, the agenda of other meetings is being finalised. The Russian leader will have talks with the Japanese prime minister and the Chinese chairman on the sidelines of the summit, the presidential adviser said.
He also said participants in the APEC summit would hold informal talks in houses of Hawaii residents.
Dvorkovich, who is preparing the agenda of Medvedev’s visit to Honolulu, said local residents would be able to meet with the leaders of companies of different APEC countries.
Speaking at a press briefing, the presidential adviser said, “Several sessions will take place within the APEC summit with the participation of the leaders.”
Dvorkovich said the Russian and US presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, would discuss in Honolulu US anti ballistic missile defence, European security, the situation in the Middle East and in North Africa.
“The agenda will be traditional, but we see progress even if slow sometimes on all directions,” Dvorkovich stated. “Medvedev and Obama will discuss issues that concern regional aspects, global threats as well as the security system, in particular anti missile defence,” he said.
“Obviously this issue (building elements of US ABM system in Europe) will be considered during the negotiations,” the Kremlin aide said. According to him, “the situation in the Middle East and in North Africa are the most topical issues at the moment, and they will also be discussed,” he added.
He is confident that this year “the Russia-US reset process does not end: reset was launched on the top political level, but not in the minds of all interested persons and players”.
“We expect that we will manage to advance on all those issues within the next few months, and by no means will roll back,” Dvorkovich stressed.