Zee Beam News

MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - European parliamentarians will visit Moscow later this week to discuss prospects for a new Russia-EU framework agreement, the European Commission's delegation to Russia said on Thursday. "A delegation of 12 members of the European Parliament led by the co-chair of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, Ria Oomen-Ruijten, will visit Moscow on October 24 - 25, 2008 for meetings with their counterparts from the Duma and the Federation Council," the delegation said. The agenda of the visit includes a working group meeting with members of both chambers of Russia's parliament and discussions with governmental representatives of the prospects for talks on a new EU-Russia framework agreement. The program also includes a meeting with representatives of civil society organizations and nongovernmental organizations. The first round of talks on a new wide-ranging deal between Russia and the EU was held in July this year. The agreement is set to replace the 1997 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was extended for a year when it expired in December 2007. The talks were delayed over disputes between Russia and EU members Poland and Lithuania. The second round of talks was due to take place on September 16, but was delayed by the EU over Moscow's military operation in Georgia and subsequent recognition of the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.