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Medvedev holds bilateral summits with CIS leaders

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  • Medvedev holds bilateral summits with CIS leaders

    Interfax News Agency, Russia
    June 6 2008


    MEDVEDEV HOLDS BILATERAL SUMMITS WITH CIS LEADERS



    *** The informal CIS summit began with the bilateral meetings between
    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and CIS leaders that had arrived
    in St. Petersburg on Friday.

    For the second time, the CIS summit will be held on the fields of the
    St. Petersburg Economic Forum that is slated to open on June 7. This
    tradition began in 2007.

    Dmitry Medvedev, as Russian president, will participate in this CIS
    summit for the first time. New Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will
    also participate in the St. Petersburg summit for the first time.

    During his meeting with Sargsyan, Medvedev invited him to visit Russia
    again within the next several months.

    Sargsyan thanked Medvedev and said stronger Russian-Armenian relations
    were in the interests of the Armenians.

    I am sure we shall meet again soon, Medvedev said.

    Dmitry Medvedev and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed at a
    meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday to meet in Baku in the nearest
    future.

    Medvedev plans to make an official visit to Azerbaijan on July 3-4 and
    to Turkmenistan on July 4-5, his senior aide Sergei Prikhodko has
    said.

    On Friday the aide told the press about Medvedev's bilateral talks
    with his Azerbaijani and Turkmen counterparts Ilkham Aliyev and
    Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow.

    "Dmitry Medvedev confirmed with gratitude his agreement to make an
    official visit to Azerbaijan in the nearest future, or to be more
    specific on July 3-4 this year," Prikhodko said.

    In addition, an agreement on the president's official visit to
    Turkmenistan was reached at the meeting with Berdymuhammedow. "The
    Turkmen president confirmed his invitation to Medvedev to make an
    official visit to Turkmenistan. The visit will take place on July 4-5
    this year," Prikhodko said.

    President Dmitry Medvedev described Uzbekistan as a key strategic
    partner of Russia in Central Asia on Friday.

    At a meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov in St. Petersburg,
    Medvedev said he put a high value on all areas of Russian-Uzbek
    cooperation, including security and law enforcement.

    "I am ready to discuss various proposals for both bilateral and
    multilateral integration," the Russian leader said.

    Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he is convinced that all
    issues in relations between Russia and Ukraine will be resolved.

    "All issues between our peoples will be resolved," Yushchenko said at
    a meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

    Yushchenko said that "Russia an Ukraine are countries that form their
    relationships at a strategic level."

    "We have many issues that need to be addressed. Maybe the fact that we
    are neighbors means difficult problems. But we will solve them," he
    said.

    Yushchenko said that he had invited his Russian counterpart, Dmitry
    Medvedev, to pay a state visit to Ukraine in the second half of 2008
    and that the two leaders had decided to have several working meetings
    "within the next month or two."

    The working meetings will take place either in Russia or in Ukraine,
    Yushchenko told reporters.

    Yushchenko said that Russia's Black Sea Fleet will remain in
    Sevastopol until 2017 as the framework agreements stipulate.

    "The treaty on the presence of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol,
    which implies that it [the fleet] will remain there until 2017, is a
    treaty that the Ukrainian side will fulfill to the last letter," he
    told the press in Stelna.

    Lately many things have appeared that cloud bilateral relations, such
    as the violation of the rules of deployment and transfer of army
    units, the misuse of real estate and land by private companies and
    individuals, Yushchenko said.

    The Ukrainian president said that with Medvedev he discussed the
    disputed issue of the use of navigation frequencies. An understanding
    on resolving the problem had been reached, he said.

    He reaffirmed that under the Ukrainian constitution no foreign
    military bases can be deployed in the country. The Verkhovna Rada took
    a friendly step when it approved the agreement on the fleet deployment
    on Ukrainian territory until 2017, he said.

    "We should continue the negotiating process calmly and with due
    respect," he said.
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