MOSCOW, March 21 (UPI) -- Russian and European Union officials discussed improved economic and security cooperation Monday in Moscow, Interfax news agency reported.
Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov met with visiting European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner to discuss "road maps" to boosting ties in economics, internal and external security and cultural and humanitarian efforts.
Ivanov and Ferrero-Waldner also discussed preparations for the Russia-EU Moscow summit scheduled for May 10, Interfax said.
Smoothly functioning relations have become a priority for both the giant Russian Federation and the 25-nation EU ever since the Union's 10-nation Copenhagen expansion brought three former Soviet republics and several Central European nations with historical close ties to Russia into it.
