Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Finland
26 September 2018 16:00
Russia-Finland talks.
Joint news conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Juha Sipilä following the talks
Excerpts from the transcript:
Joint press conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipilä
Juha Sipilä (via interpreter): Today, Mr Medvedev and I have held frank and constructive talks regarding bilateral relations between Finland and Russia. We discussed the economy and the environment, as well as relations between the European Union and Russia, and the regional and international situation. The last time Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and I met was a year ago in St Petersburg. At that time, we marked the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence. Dialogue between our countries also continues this year. Our presidents met this past summer in Helsinki and in Sochi. For us, the prime ministers, this is the fourth meeting.
Our countries maintain very close contacts between people. Russian citizens are the largest and most numerous group of foreign tourists in Finland.
This week, the city of Savonlinna will host a cultural forum between our countries.
Tourism between our countries is growing all the time. Last year, we recorded nine million border crossings. In this respect, we are lagging behind the all-time high of 13 million crossings, posted in 2013.
We also discussed environmental matters, which, as you know, are unaffected by state borders. For many years, our consistent and purposeful cooperation helped improve the state of the Baltic Sea. Mr Medvedev and I also discussed our countries’ commitment to implementing agreements under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The reduction of soot or black carbon emissions is a central issue when we talk about slowing down climate change processes. Finland will try to hold another Arctic summit until the end of its presidency of the Arctic Council. Efforts to promote specific measures for reducing black soot emissions are one of our main goals.
Finland and the Russian Federation also cooperate in the area of waste management. During our current meeting, we discussed the Krasny Bor hazardous waste landfill and in a broader context, that is, cooperation in the area of waste management. Finnish companies have excellent technological competences and experience in this sector, and we agreed to promote this cooperation in the future.
We also conducted a good discussion of trade and economic relations between our countries. Finnish-Russian trade remains about the same as last year. We posted very good growth last year, and trade expanded appreciably. But it should be noted that a negative balance is being posted in Finland’s trade with Russia.
Finnish companies have invested a total of 12 billion euros in the Russian economy, and new projects are currently being implemented.
Taking into account Finland’s population, it is the largest per-capita investor in Russia. Although difficulties and problems emerge from time to time, Finnish companies are determined to implement long-term projects on the Russian market.
Today, Finnish company Valmet and Russia’s Sveza Group have signed a protocol of understanding as regards a modern pulp factory that will be built in Russia. Environmental factors and efforts to minimise the environmental impact will be prioritised during construction of this facility.
We also discussed the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 nuclear power plant. Finland always puts safety at the top of the list. All sides and all participants consider it very important that the project proceeds normally, that all plans regarding this should be realistic, and that they meet all the requirements requested by the official authorities.
When we talk about cooperation between neighbouring countries, streamlined border cooperation, of course, plays a very important role. In this context, we must pay tribute to our border authorities who cooperate on an excellent basis with each other. Speaking of legislation on temporary car imports, things are really speeding ahead in the right direction here.
Shipping volumes in the Gulf of Finland continue to increase every single year. At the same time, this spells out additional risks as well as disasters. Finland would like to cooperate more closely with Russia in the sphere of high-seas rescue operations. Not a single Baltic region state has the required high-seas rescue potential for addressing problems that might arise during large-scale disasters.
Speaking of international affairs, we discussed matters regarding the Ukrainian conflict and Syria. Finland is concerned about the situation of civilians, and we are worried as to how sustained solutions of these conflicts will be reached. Other matters of concern to us include the threat of spreading hostilities to new territories and apprehensions that many people will suffer in Syria’s Idlib region. Russia bears special responsibility for preventing the escalation of violence.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine also influences relations between the European Union and Russia to some extent. And the development of these relations depends on this conflict’s resolution. In this context, Russia also acts as a central and important player.
The European Union and Russia are still neighbours. And Finland has always noted that dialogue plays a key role when it comes to these matters, too.
Civil society level contacts are also of upmost importance. My colleague and I have agreed that all the remaining matters (that we did not have time to discuss) will be brought up when we get together this evening. We will also touch upon subjects discussed during the talks which took place between ministers.
Russia-Finland talks
26 September 2018
Dmitry Medvedev’s conversation with Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipilä
26 September 2018
Joint press conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipilä
26 September 2018
Joint press conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipilä
26 September 2018
Следующая новость
Russia-Finland talks
Dmitry Medvedev: We have had productive, wide-ranging talks. It is our fourth meeting. We met twice in St Petersburg, once in the Prime Minister’s home town of Oulu. This is the best evidence that the most diverse issues can be resolved bilaterally even at a time when the Russian Federation and the European Union have fairly complicated relations.
Finland remains our reliable and constructive partner. By joint efforts, we have reversed the downturn in bilateral trade from two or three years ago. Trade is now growing. This is a direct result of more intensive efforts.
In this case, we compare our relations with Finland to 2013 because mutual trade peaked back then. And we still have to get back to those numbers. The task we set ourselves is to make Russia Finland’s top trading partner again, as it was some time ago. We are currently in third place trailing Germany and Switzerland. The key role here belongs to business – both fairly big businesses, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. Indeed, Finnish companies are quite active in the Russian market. They launch new projects, which we greatly appreciate. The Prime Minister said Finland’s investments amount to 12 billion, but according to our data, the number is 14 billion. I don’t know where the other two billion got lost but I hope the numbers properly reflect the situation with investments.
We have major partners such as, for example, the Fortum concern which is operating in Russia, carrying out a number of very significant projects. The construction of the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant, a large Russian project in Finland, was mentioned here. We discussed it today, including schedule issues. An important benchmark is issuing the construction licence for next year. The work should be accelerated, though it is a commercial project, of course. And we expect the shareholders will be actively involved in this work.
I would like to thank our partners and Finland in general for the proactive position on Nord Stream 2. Work has been underway on Finland’s part of the pipeline since 5 September.
The timber industry boasts substantial prospects. Indeed a cooperation memorandum regarding the planned construction of a pulp mill in the Vologda Region has been signed on the sidelines of our talks. This, too, is an ambitious project with high environmental standards.
There are some interesting and mutually beneficial initiatives in the industry and in the field of construction, telecommunications and education as well. On the whole, we will, naturally, continue to work on a number of projects.
We have discussed environmental and nature conservation cooperation in great detail. The reclamation of the Krasny Bor dump containing dangerous waste, located near St Petersburg, is on the agenda. Finnish waste disposal technology might also come in handy. Russia perceives this job as very topical nowadays. By the way, Mr Prime Minister and I will visit a plant for decontaminating and recycling dangerous household rubbish after this news conference.
We will certainly continue to work on some of the initiatives within the Arctic Council. In this respect, we support Finland’s proposals in the Nordic Dimension format, including efforts to reduce black-soot and methane emissions. Russia has got quite a few ideas and proposals when it comes to this.
We are actively involved in border cooperation too. We have a programme which will take us up to 2020. A protocol on crossing the state border entered into force in July. This was preceded by active work involving our border services, and we must thank them for this. We will also address a number of matters on the verge between border cooperation and customs clearance, including temporary car imports, mentioned by Mr Juha Sipilä.
The citizens of our countries continue to expand their communications and contacts, with Russian citizens started visiting Finland more frequently. Last year’s trips involved over three million people. Although we have so far failed to hit an all-time high level reached in 2013. Nevertheless, we are expecting more Russian tourists to go to Finland and vice versa.
We have discussed a number of international and regional matters (Mr Prime Minister has already noted this), including those linked with the situation concerning the Middle East and Syrian developments. I would like to point out that Russia is really interested in overcoming the civil conflict that had flared up in Syria as soon as possible; moreover, problems linked with the existence of terrorist hotbeds and manifestations in Syria must be resolved once and for all. I would like to note just one thing: of course, the Syrian Government, as well as a number of countries involved in resolving this conflict, one way or another (including the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Israel, Turkey, Iran, as well as some other states), must also assume responsibility for developments in this case.
Regarding the resolution of the civil conflict in Ukraine, we have exchanged information about and opinions on the developments in that country. Obviously, firm political will, primarily on the part of the Ukrainian government, rather than statements that the Minsk process is dead, and that it is necessary to look for other formats, is needed to overcome the tragic situation that has taken shape in Ukraine.
We have discussed some other cooperation matters.
I would like to thank Mr Prime Minister for the traditionally open atmosphere at our meeting, for the talks that we have conducted and for his hospitality. I hope that such contacts will continue. We will meet again today, and we will discuss some other aspects that we have not so far brought up.
Question: We know that Russia and Finland are discussing opportunities for new joint environmental projects. Would you give us more specifics about these projects and the timeframes?
Dmitry Medvedev: We have already said a few words about this. Indeed, Finland has very advanced waste disposal technology and very high environmental standards in general. So this is definitely a great area for cooperation.
Speaking about the most recent agenda, the main project is perhaps the Krasny Bor hazardous waste landfill. We have reached an agreement on this problem and will very shortly begin to discuss the format of cooperation involving Rosatom on Russia’s side, Fortum and probably some other companies on Finland’s side. In any case, this is a complicated and important project for our country and Finland also sees it as such. The most important prerequisite is that this project is already included in the national environmental programme and funds have been allocated for this purpose. This means we are moving from discussing this matter (and frankly speaking, this discussion has been going on for more than one decade) to practical implementation.
I would also like to mention a few points that we covered. They include reducing soot and methane emissions. Here I want to point out that Russia has also made its own suggestions, including those from Gazprom. There are a number of technology concepts for solving this problem in the Arctic, including abating petroleum gas flaring and injecting this gas into a formation, which creates an environmental effect and a completely different situation. We will look into this.
Juha Sipilä (via interpreter): Indeed, building waste disposal facilities in St Petersburg was a successful project. It really affected the Baltic Sea environment. Now we are discussing another project, which is reclamation of the Krasny Bor landfill. We already used our Finnish technology there to take samples and conduct analysis. My colleague mentioned the problem of soot emissions. But I would like to elaborate on the cooperation in waste management. In Finland, only 3 percent of waste ends up in landfills while 40 percent is recovered and recycled, and 50 percent is burnt. We have many opportunities for cooperation in this field. We have a lot we can offer. As concerns petroleum gas flaring and the resulting soot emissions, my colleague also covered that.
Question (via interpreter): In Finland the public’s attention has been drawn towards the investigation in relation to Ariston Helmi being conducted in the area of the city of Turku on the archipelago. People fear that Russia, under certain circumstances, might use the infrastructure build on the islands – for example, helicopter pads – for military purposes. How might the respected heads of government respond to these public concerns? How could Russia help the investigation into suspected money laundering? My next question is to the Prime Minister of Finland. What assistance does Finland expect to receive, should it want, in the context of this investigation?
Dmitry Medvedev: The investigation conducted in Finland is Finland’s affair, not Russia’s. Finland has been a sovereign state for quite a long time now. Investigate whatever you want; it’s your internal affair. If a corpus delicti, including money laundering, is really in evidence, this is a crime under Russian law as well. All the procedures under Finnish procedural law must be observed. If a request for assistance is addressed to the Russian law enforcement agencies, this help, as is only natural, will be provided. But given that the investigation affects a Russian citizen, we, naturally, hope that he will enjoy all the terms envisaged by law. He can also have consular support.
As for the helicopter pads, this is a case of paranoid delirium. What comments can be expected here? I don’t even know what to say. Where does this come from? Whose inflamed brain has conceived this?
Juha Sipilä (via interpreter): This topic was not on our official agenda. You are speaking about a police case; an investigation is in progress and it is not yet over. There are suspicions of money laundering and major tax evasion. A Russian and an Estonian have been taken into custody in this context. This case has no effect on relations between Russia and Finland. I have no information that might force us to apply for assistance in this investigation. There is no reason for that. Let me join in what my colleague said on this.
Russia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum
September 27, 2018
14:00
Baku
With President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the 9th Russia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum.
Vladimir Putin and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended a plenary session of the 9thRussia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum.
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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: Mr President, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to greet Russian President Vladimir Putin and his delegation in Azerbaijan. We are always happy to see you, welcome!
Participation of the Russian and Azerbaijani presidents in the Interregional Forum demonstrates the significance that we see in this forum. This is the ninth forum and next year we will celebrate its tenth anniversary.
We are delighted that the first Interregional Forum was held in Azerbaijan in 2010 and prompted very intense interregional cooperation.
This hall can take 1,000 people and today it is full, which shows the amount of interest in this event.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the 9th Russia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum.
President Putin and I meet on a regular basis. Just recently, in early September, I paid an official visit to the Russian Federation and we had very productive talks and an in-depth exchange of views on all subjects on the agenda.
The fact that less than a month later, the Russian President is here in Azerbaijan demonstrates the level of relations between our countries.
Sixteen documents were signed during my visit and they cover many spheres of activity and will determine the progressive course of our relations for many years to come.
I must note that it is the fourth time that President Vladimir Putin has visited Azerbaijan. I also pay regular visits to Russia, which is a proof in itself of our partnership, as well as the friendly, neighbourly relations between our countries.
As concerns the trade and economic links, we see impressive dynamics. This growth is consistent. The Russia-Azerbaijan trade grew last year and continues to grow this year.
Russia is the largest import partner for Azerbaijan and the number-one partner for our non-oil exports. We are also involved in mutual investment projects where we have also seen positive development.
We have very sustainable ties when it comes to energy and the oil-and-gas sector. During my official visit to the Russian Federation, we signed an important document – an oil contract between Rosneft and Sokar. LUKoil has been successfully working in Azerbaijan for over 20 years now and is one of our major investors.
Our energy grids are operating in parallel in the electricity industry. During my September visit, we discussed matters linked with the construction of the second stage of the high voltage line that would allow us to further upgrade our energy exchange, and expand cooperation with third countries in this area.
Our cooperation in transport is very active. The North-South project that we are jointly carrying out is already producing results. This year freight traffic along this corridor increased more than 100-fold as compared with that of last year, and this is only the beginning.
We hope that this corridor will become one of Eurasia’s main transport arteries and will thus further promote the rapprochement of our countries and enhance our transit potential.
I would also like to point out that the Azerbaijani national airline alone has over 50 flights per week to different Russian cities. If we add Russian air carriers, we will see the intensity of contacts between our citizens and the depth of our ties.
With President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the 9th Russia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum.There is a huge increase in the number of Russian tourists in Azerbaijan. In less than nine months, about 700,000 Russian citizens visited Azerbaijan. I am certain that this figure will continue growing in the future.
We have very good prospects and cooperation in the banking sector. VTB, a major Russian bank, is operating successfully in Azerbaijan. Incidentally, Azerbaijan is its largest foreign shareholder. Relatively recently Gazprombank financed Azerbaijan’s major industrial project that is worth over $400 million. These projects are important components of our cooperation.
The automotive industry is a relatively new field of cooperation. The Azerbaijan-based plants are assembling the KamAZ and Ural trucks with hundreds of vehicles already off the assembly line. An agreement has also been signed on the production of GAZ vehicles in our country. We are witnessing highly effective dynamics across all areas, and all of this is indicative of both the spirit and the nature of our relations.
Historical and cultural ties, as well as the proximity of our nations, underlie our relations. Of course, we are working together closely on expanding our cultural ties.
Another cultural forum sponsored by the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan will be held in Baku next month. This international forum has already become an important global platform for discussing cultural matters, an intercultural and inter-religious dialogue.
There are 341 schools in Azerbaijan providing education in Russian, and in addition, there are two branches of leading Russian universities, namely, Moscow State University and the Sechenov Medical University. Much is going on in the cultural sphere. I could go on and on about Russia-Azerbaijan relations, but the format of today’s event makes it impossible to cover everything. However, we will do our best to expand our relations.
The opening of the Azerbaijan pavilion at VDNKh next year will be an important step in further promoting our cooperation. Back in the 1950s, this historic building used to be Azerbaijan pavilion. Now, we are renovating it and we will showcase our achievements at what I regard as a very important exhibition venue.
We also have very close relations with Russia's regions. About 20 Russian regions have signed corresponding agreements with Azerbaijan. We are opening trade missions in the regions, as Russian regions are doing in Azerbaijan. I am confident that region-to-region cooperation will naturally complement friendly and neighbourly relations between our countries.
I would like to express my gratitude to President Vladimir Putin for being in Azerbaijan today. We appreciate this and take it as a sign of friendship and respect. Of course, the fact that we are speaking here today emphasises the importance of the work that you are doing. I wish the forum every success for the benefit and prosperity of our countries and peoples.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends, ladies and gentlemen.
Like the President of Azerbaijan, I am delighted that today we have an opportunity to say a few words in front of such a representative audience.
The 9th interregional forum shows that in the previous years we did not waste our time and were busy working in all areas, which is bringing results.
Allow me to repeat and remind you about a few things. In any case, in this hall we have representatives of science, the creative community, business, politics – and this help us to generally get good results.
I would like to point out that interregional links are the most important component of relations between our countries. Seventy Russian regions work closely with the regions of Azerbaijan. The leaders here are Moscow, Moscow Region, St Petersburg, as well as Stavropol and Krasnodar territories, and Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Volgograd, Saratov and Sverdlovsk regions.
Overall, speaking about ties between Russia and Azerbaijan, I would like to stress that the relations between our states are, without question, built on the principles of good neighbourliness and mutual respect. We are always trying to look for a balance of interests and we succeed.
During the recent talks in Sochi, which President Aliyev has just mentioned, we signed a range of documents and agreements that create an additional regulatory basis for further developing our inter-state links. Let me note that there are now around 700 joint companies with Russian participation on the Azerbaijani market and the total amount of Russia’s direct investment in Azerbaijan exceeds $1.5 billion.
The Russia-Azerbaijan Business Council is a great help when it comes to establishing mutually beneficial business contacts. Last year alone, it supported 42 joint projects worth around half a billion US dollars in total.
Russian energy corporations are working successfully in Azerbaijan, as has already been mentioned. In conjunction with the state corporation of Azerbaijan, Rosneft will soon start exploring and developing the Goshadash oil and gas field.
LUKOIL has invested about $4 billion in energy projects in Azerbaijan, which was also mentioned here, and Transneft, our leading oil transport monopoly, ensures reliable export transit of the Azerbaijani oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline.
We see good opportunities for deepening cooperation in the automotive industry, which was also mentioned today. KamAZ has become operational, and now engages in technical assembly and vehicle maintenance. AvtoVAZ has created a wide retail network to sell Lada cars in all regions of Azerbaijan with over 40 branches now open in this country.
In turn, investors from Azerbaijan participate in building agricultural enterprises in Russia, such as a hothouse complex in Nizhny Novgorod region (with an investment of over one billion rubles) and a joint venture to produce food in Krasnodar Territory.
In 2017, the supply of Azerbaijani agricultural produce to Russia increased significantly by almost 12 percent. The total volume hit a whopping half a billion dollars.
Our partners are showing an increased interest in this area of business, which can be seen from more than 30 Azerbaijani companies participating in the international food exhibition in Moscow on September 17−20.
Russia and Azerbaijan are carrying out joint infrastructure projects. In particular, an international North-South transport corridor (Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia) is being created to bring together the European and Asian markets.
The construction companies of our countries are building a new bridge on the Samur River with a throughput capacity of over 37,000 vehicles per day as part of this genuinely large-scale effort and initiative.
The Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea has opened new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation between our states. This, of course, is nothing short of a breakthrough.
Of course, much has still to be done to ensure that everything works properly and to achieve full-scale implementation, but the signing of the document has created a good basis for cooperation in the Caspian region.
We hope that Russian and Azerbaijani companies will actively carry out promising projects in the Caspian Sea area, primarily, on transport, freight traffic, oil and gas production, environmental protection and, certainly, the preservation of bioresources and biodiversity of the Caspian Sea.
We are intensively developing bilateral contacts in tourism. A health resort centre has been built in Yessentuki owing to Azerbaijani entrepreneurs, and a hotel complex is under construction in Zheleznovodsk. We are also planning to jointly develop sea cruises in the Caspian Sea.
Of course, Russia and Azerbaijan are paying special attention to the expansion of humanitarian cooperation. The President of Azerbaijan has just mentioned this as well.
There are two branches of our largest universities – Moscow State University and Sechenov Medical University – in Baku. The number of scientific and student exchanges is growing.
Rostov University of Railways and Astrakhan University are elaborating joint programmes with their Azerbaijani partners on the education of top professionals, primarily in economic specialties.
Naturally, we intend to continue promoting bilateral contacts in education, culture and science. I would like to emphasise one point which I talked about with the President in Sochi and we see and appreciate this – the interest in the Russian language.
And I am referring not just to the interest of Azerbaijanis in the Russian language but also to help from the state, municipalities and cities. We see all of this.
The 300-odd schools mentioned by the President certainly form a base. But the main base is in the hearts and minds of people, their obvious striving for cooperation, to maintain and develop contacts.
At the 9th Russia-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum.Friends and colleagues,
I spoke about just some areas of our bilateral cooperation in which Russian and Azerbaijani regions are taking part. Opportunities for cooperation are really very broad.
Importantly, specific areas of our cooperation at the regional level are primarily determined by you, those who have gathered in this hall, and your colleagues at the local level. I certainly want to wish you every success in this work.
Thank you.
