Viktor Vekselberg met with ambassadors from EU countries working in Russia. The meeting was attended by Ambassador of the European Union, Ambassador of France, Ambassador of Portugal, Ambassador of Spain, Ambassador of Austria, Ambassador of Denmark, Ambassador of Belgium, Ambassador of Hungary, Ambassador of Latvia, Ambassador of Malta, Ambassador of Bulgaria, Ambassador of Germany, Ambassador of Romania, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ambassador of Luxembourg, Ambassador of Cyprus, and others.At the meeting the sides discussed possibilities of cooperation between Russia and the EU in the field of innovations and technology. Head of the Delegation of the European Union, Ambassador Fernando M. Valenzuela, said: «We believe innovation and scientific technical cooperation are extremely important for our joint interest and our economies. The Partnership for Modernisation provides us an operational support for such cooperation».President of the Skolkovo Foundation spoke about principles of «Skolkovo» Innovation Center, its organization, ecosystem, business strategies and international orientation. In particular, Viktor Vekselberg pointed out that «our projects are being performed in cooperation with participants from European countries. We represent a truly international project. This is the right way. We can achieve success working with various parts of the international community: academic, business and many more».Responding to participants’ questions, Viktor Vekselberg also noted that «now we are focused on the research phase; as soon as the company picks up the pace, our project can and should be implemented elsewhere as an industrial project. This speeds up a lot of possibilities for people who are beginning to think in whole new directions».
Background Information.The Delegation of the European Commission to Russia was open in Moscow in February 1991. Starting from December 1, 2009 with the Lisbon Treaty entering into force, the Delegation of the European Commission was transformed into the Delegation of the European Union to Russia. The Delegation has the status of a diplomatic mission and officially represents the European Union in Russia.The institutions of the European Union are the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. On January 1, 2007 the European Union completed its fifth enlargement that had started in May 2004. Today the European Union includes 27 Member States, has a population of around 500 million and is the largest trading bloc in the world.The Delegation's Mandate includes the following: - To promote the political and economic relations between Russia and the European Union by maintaining extensive relations with governmental institutions and by increasing information awareness of the EU, its institutions and programmes; - To monitor the implementation of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Russia; - To inform the public of the development of the EU and to explain and defend individual EU policies; - To participate in the implementation of the European Union's assistance programmes.The Delegation of the European Union to Russia is headed by Ambassador Fernando M. Valenzuela.