The meeting was attended by President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana.
They discussed their recent joint work in politics, economics and the cultural and educational spheres, and established various long-term goals. The parties exchanged views on the EU’s forthcoming new constitutional treaty, the situation in Russia in the pre-election period, the state of the Russian and European Union economies, as well as some of the most serious international issues: the situation in Kosovo, the Middle East and Iran's nuclear programme.
Following the summit Russia and the EU signed two documents. Head of the Federal Drugs Control Service Viktor Cherkesov and European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Wolfgang Goetz signed a memorandum of understanding. Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina and the EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mendelson signed the agreement between Russia and the EU on trading certain steel products.
At the end of the meeting the parties gave a joint press conference. Vladimir Putin emphasized that Russia does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of the European Union by trying to rush into negotiations on the new basic agreement between Russia and the EU. The talks have been deadlocked for more than a year after Poland vetoed the European Commission’s proposal because of the ban Moscow had imposed on imports of meat from Polish territory.