EU/Russia Summit — Joint Statement on the Partnership for Modernisation

31 May‑1 June 2010
Meet­ing at Ros­tov-on-Don for their 25th Sum­mit on May 31-June 1, 2010, the Euro­pean Union and Rus­sia launched a Part­ner­ship for Mod­erni­sa­tion to the mutu­al ben­e­fit of their cit­i­zens.

In a world in which peo­ples and economies are ever more close­ly con­nect­ed and inter­de­pen­dent, mod­ernising our economies and soci­eties becomes ever more impor­tant and necessary.

The Euro­pean Union and Rus­sia, as long-stand­ing strate­gic part­ners in a chang­ing mul­ti­po­lar world, are com­mit­ted to work­ing togeth­er to address com­mon chal­lenges with a bal­anced and result-ori­ent­ed approach, based on democ­ra­cy and the rule of law, both at the nation­al and inter­na­tion­al lev­el. The New Euro­pean Union — Rus­sia Agree­ment, which is cur­rent­ly under nego­ti­a­tion, will also pro­vide the basis for achiev­ing these objec­tives. In this con­text, the Part­ner­ship for Mod­erni­sa­tion will serve as a flex­i­ble frame­work for pro­mot­ing reform, enhanc­ing growth and rais­ing com­pet­i­tive­ness, and will build on results achieved so far in the con­text of the four Euro­pean Union — Rus­sia Com­mon Spaces, com­ple­ment­ing part­ner­ships between Euro­pean Union Mem­ber States and the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion. The sec­toral dia­logues will be a key imple­men­ta­tion instru­ment for the Part­ner­ship for Modernisation.

The Euro­pean Union and Rus­sia have a com­mon inter­est in enhanc­ing bilat­er­al trade and invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties and in facil­i­tat­ing and lib­er­al­is­ing trade in the glob­al econ­o­my as well as strength­en­ing and devel­op­ing com­pe­ti­tion, includ­ing through Russia’s ear­ly WTO accession. 

Pri­or­i­ty areas of the Part­ner­ship for Mod­erni­sa­tion will include: expand­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for invest­ment in key sec­tors dri­ving growth and inno­va­tion, enhanc­ing and deep­en­ing bilat­er­al trade and eco­nom­ic rela­tions, and pro­mot­ing small and medi­um sized enter­pris­es; pro­mot­ing align­ment of tech­ni­cal reg­u­la­tions and stan­dards, as well as a high lev­el of enforce­ment of intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty rights; improv­ing trans­port; pro­mot­ing a sus­tain­able low-car­bon econ­o­my and ener­gy effi­cien­cy, as well as inter­na­tion­al nego­ti­a­tions on fight­ing cli­mate change; enhanc­ing co-oper­a­tion in inno­va­tion, research and devel­op­ment, and space; ensur­ing bal­anced devel­op­ment by address­ing the region­al and social con­se­quences of eco­nom­ic restruc­tur­ing; ensur­ing the effec­tive func­tion­ing of the judi­cia­ry and strength­en­ing the fight against cor­rup­tion; pro­mot­ing peo­ple-to-peo­ple links; and enhanc­ing dia­logue with civ­il soci­ety to fos­ter par­tic­i­pa­tion of indi­vid­u­als and busi­ness. This list of areas for coop­er­a­tion is not exhaus­tive. Oth­er areas for coop­er­a­tion can be added as appro­pri­ate. The Euro­pean Union and Rus­sia will encour­age imple­men­ta­tion of spe­cif­ic projects with­in the frame­work of the Part­ner­ship for Modernisation.

The Part­ner­ship for Mod­erni­sa­tion will be the sub­ject of con­tin­u­ous mon­i­tor­ing and exchanges at all lev­els of the Euro­pean Union — Rus­sia dia­logue. The co-ordi­na­tors of the Part­ner­ship and the co-chairs of the Euro­pean Union — Rus­sia sec­toral dia­logues will close­ly inter­act in the Partnership’s imple­men­ta­tion. The Euro­pean Union and Rus­sia have exchanged con­cepts on the Euro­pean Union’s and Russia’s visions of the main areas for coop­er­a­tion with­in the con­text of the Part­ner­ship for Mod­erni­sa­tion. Lead­ers have tasked coor­di­na­tors of both sides to devel­op a work plan. 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union