President Putin had a meeting with Goran Persson, the Prime Minister of Sweden, which held the rotating EU presidency in the first half of 2001. The President thanked the Swedish head of government for the invitation to the Stockholm summit. Mr Persson, for his part, expressed hope that Mr Putin’s participation in the representative European forum would promote coordination and cooperation between Russia and the European Union.
Following their conversation, Mr Putin and Mr Persson joined the other EU leaders for a joint photo opportunity provided for summit participants.
In the course of the detailed discussion that followed, the EU heads of state and government and President Putin examined current political and economic issues of European security and Russian initiatives in these sectors. They also touched upon the upcoming enlargement of the EU and Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organisation.
At the end of the summit, Mr Putin and Mr Persson gave a joint news conference.