South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, left, meets with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, right, in the Kremlin September 29, 2008. The key result of that get-together is the agreement to proceed to another level in bilateral relations, the one of strategic partnership.
Photo: Alexander Miridonov
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Moscow, Seoul to Become Strategic Partners
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is in Moscow now, had a meeting with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday, September 29, 2008. The key result of that get-together was the agreement to proceed to another level in bilateral relations, the one of strategic partnership.
“This approach has been recorded in the joint statement passed by results of negotiations and we have all chances for it,” RF President Dmitry Medvedev commented on the new future of Moscow-Seoul cooperation.
In time of the Kremlin talks, the emphasis was laid on trading, economic and investment ties, which survived the turmoil of late 1990s and which have been accelerating in the recent years. Past year’s bilateral trading turnover was $15 billion, while this year’s amount is estimated at above $20 billion. The investment cooperation rallies as well. South Korea injected $740 million in Russia’s economy in the first half-year, bringing the overall investments to nearly $3 billion.
The presidents paid particular attention to big joint projects, including connecting the Trans-Korean and Trans-Siberian railways, participation of Korean business in improving industrial potential of Russia’s regions, including Eastern Siberia, Far East, and South Korea’s involvement in preparing Russia to the APEC summit.
The situation on the Korean peninsula was the highlight of foreign political portion of the talks. Russia is for the nuclear-free status of the peninsula, for the progress in six-party negotiations, Medvedev said by results of the meeting. What’s more, Moscow will proceed with the efforts aimed at developing political, economic and humanitarian ties of both Koreas under the agreements attained at Korean summits of 2000 and 2007.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 30, 2008
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