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Russia and Finland plan to forge their contacts in a way to fit them harmoniously into the context of Russia-EU relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his opening remarks at the meeting.

He also mentioned a series of major promising projects which could be implemented multinationally that may be of interest to Russia, Finland and Europe.

The Finnish Prime Minister expressed certainty that the European Union’s expansion planned for 2004 would largely benefit Russia as well.

Mr Lipponen said Finland expected to develop cooperation with Russia in woodworking and that Finland was also interested in the available options for investing in this sector of Russia’s economy.

Mr Putin said the Russian-Finnish summit would take place in the coming spring, as he had agreed with President Tarja Halonen.