HELSINKI, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Helsinki on a working visit Thursday, the day before a Russia-EU summit in the Finnish capital.
Finnish Transport Minister Susanna Huovinen met the Russian leader at the airport, from where they traveled to the presidential palace, where Putin will hold talks with his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen.
A Kremlin source said that at their fourth meeting this year, the leaders will focus on trade and customs, and will "consider their approaches to key issues on bilateral, European, and global agendas."
On the sidelines of the presidents' meeting, the two countries' railroad monopolies are expected to sign an agreement to set up a joint venture. Russian Railways Co. plans to buy a high-speed train from Finland for a line between St. Petersburg and Helsinki.
Finland's presidential office said Finnish negotiators also planned to discuss traffic jams on the Finnish-Russian border, where lines of trailers and trucks stretched dozens of kilometers during bad weather earlier in November.
The Kremlin confirmed earlier that the countries intend to address measures to streamline traffic across the border.
Forestry, one of the main areas of cooperation between Russia and Finland, with 20% of the Finnish timber industry working for Russian companies, will also be a focus of Thursday's talks, the Kremlin said. Russia has announced plans to switch from timber sales to domestic processing.
Presidents Putin and Halonen will also discuss ways of stepping up investment cooperation, particularly in hi-tech industries. As of June 2006, Finland's accumulated investment in Russia, predominantly in the timber, chemical, and machine-building industries, stood at over $755 million.
Russian investment in the Finnish economy has reached over $470 million, according to the Kremlin.
Finland is among Russia's 10 leading trading partners - bilateral trade last year hit $10.7 billion, up 32% on 2005. The figure is expected to grow further this year, as commodity turnover between January and August 2006 stood at 8.6%, up 14%, year-on-year.
At Friday's summit, the sides are expected to discuss a new Russia-EU partnership pact. However, the talks may have to be postponed over objections from Poland, which demands that Russia first lift its embargo on Polish meat and sign the Energy Charter with Europe.
Putin will also attend a Northern Dimension meeting on Friday. The initiative addresses environmental problems, crime, and other challenges in northern regions, and is aimed at promoting development.
