Global General

Germany, Russia seek common ground on wide range issues

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-06 11:37
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EU-RUSSIA SECURITY TIES

The two leaders agreed to propose the establishment of an EU-Russia Political and Security Committee on ministerial level, upgraded from ambassador level as previously suggested.

"The committee could serve as a forum to exchange views on current topics of international politics and security agenda, to develop guidelines for joint civil and military crisis management operations,"  a statement of the two governments said.

It also said the multilateral framework would help Russia and the EU to draft recommendations on specific issues, including conflicts and crisis situations.

"We hope and believe the proposal will receive positive responses in the entire European Union," Merkel said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would reportedly lead the new committee. The statement said the next EU-Russia summit will review the progress made by all sides.

European countries shrugged off similar proposals initiated by Medvedev in 2008, holding that such a mechanism would hardly go along with the existing North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

STABLE EURO, FINANCIAL REGULATION

On recent European debt troubles and the euro's fluctuation, Medvedev said "it is crucial for our European partners to stabilize the situation, and this is necessary for the global financial system."

"If the euro is pulled out of the world financial system, the consequences will be even worse than the economic crisis starting in 2008," the President said. "Many people in our country keep their savings in euros, and this is why we are not indifferent to what happens to this European invention."

Medvedev said Russia wants a "stable and predictable" euro currency, just as the world needs an acceptable exchange rate of the U.S. dollar.

He said he believed "all the positive things that have been done lately in terms of reforming the EU's economic system will develop further."  He was "confident" that the EU would find the best way to get out of trouble.

The EU has agreed on an unprecedented loan package worth of 750 billion euros (900 billion dollars) for rescuing eurozone countries with big debts in May, as soaring deficits immersing Greece, Portugal, Spain and other eurozone countries have triggered fears in the financial market and caused the euro's fast depreciation in recent weeks.

Merkel said the two countries "agreed here that the stability of the euro is a core duty for stable development", and she expected the topic of sustainable growth and financial market regulation would be fully addressed in the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in Toronto, Canada, on June 26 to 27.

"Russia and Germany have already gotten many common views on these issues," she added.

The chancellor also briefed her Russian guest on the large-scale austerity plans offered by Berlin and other European partners, saying that "any sustainable growth cannot come at the expense of high deficits," and Germany as Europe's leading economy should play a key role in this field.

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