President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Spanish Prime Minister and head of the EU Council Jose Maria Aznar, European Commission President Romano Prodi, and Secretary General of the EU Council/ High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana took part in the summit talks.
They discussed various aspects of bilateral cooperation in the economic, political and humanitarian spheres, some security issues, as well as regional and international problems (the Balkans, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Indo-Pakistani crisis, Transdnestrian conflict).
During the discussion of the upcoming EU enlargement Mr Putin focused on the necessity of the urgent solution of the Kaliningrad problem on the basis of the non-visa transit of people and cargoes between the exclave region and the mainland of the Russian Federation. President Putin expressed regret that up to date all Russian proposals on resolving this issue had no favor with Brussels. He hoped that a compromise decision will be found soon. Both sides agreed to continue joint work with a view to reaching mutually acceptable solutions for the Kaliningrad region. This will be of key importance for the development of a strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the European Union and for strengthening the atmosphere of good-neighbourliness and mutual understanding.
Five joint statements were signed at the summit. The first dealt with the relations between Russia and the European Union as a whole and the remaining four with specific aspects of the dialogue: on practical steps to develop the political dialogue and cooperation on crisis settlement and security issues; on the energy dialogue; on the Middle East and on the situation of Indo-Pakistani relations.
At the end of the summit Mr Putin, Mr Aznar, Mr Prodi and Mr Solana gave a joint press conference.