Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on 25 October after talks with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen that he hopes the Nord Stream gas pipeline will be built on schedule. Nord Stream will be built within the time frame set before, and we thank our Finish colleagues for that, Putin said. He noted that Nord Stream is already being laid in both Russia and Germany. There is more and more support in Europe for the diversification of energy routes.

 Just recently, as you know, the Danish Government has allowed the pipeline to go through its economic zone for which we would like to thank that country’s leadership, Putin said. On 20 October, Denmark became the first country to approve the pipeline’s route.The pipeline is scheduled to be completed in 2012, but its environmental safety has been questioned by several of the transit countries, including Finland. Vanhanen told journalists on 25 October that Finland will approve Nord Stream by the end of the year.

The situation looks as if by November 5 the Finnish government will compile proposals to make a positive decision on Nord Stream. After that, matters will depend on the environmental study, Vanhanen said.Meanwhile, Putin and Vanhanen discussed practically all the issues on the bilateral agenda from trade and industrial cooperation to cooperation in the humanitarian and environmental fields. It is important that in spite of the negative consequences of the global crisis the implementation of key Russian-Finnish projects is going ahead at a good clip.

Of course there has been some decline in the volume of trade, but I am sure that in the future we will be able to turn this situation around. In this connection I would like to remind you that last year Russia emerged as the biggest trading partner of the Finnish Republic, Putin said. We are committed to building up our business ties, improving their quality and stability and developing both the traditional and new areas of economic partnership, he added.Putin also noted the progress on the transport programmes between Finland and Russian.

By the end of next year high-speed train service will be launched between St. Petersburg and Helsinki. That will cut the travel time by half. Vanhanen suggested that we make the inaugural trip together. I think we will do it, Putin said.The two leaders also discussed broader environmental cooperation in the Baltic. We have accumulated some good positive experience here. For example, construction has been completed of the south-western purification plants and of the Northern sewerage in St. Petersburg. We intend to continue cooperation in this sphere.

We have discussed the prospects for similar joint projects in other Russian cities on the Baltic coast, above all Kaliningrad, Putin said.Russia supports the Finnish initiative of holding a Baltic Summit in Helsinki early next year. I believe that its decisions will strengthen environmental cooperation in the region, Putin said.Russia currently holds the presidency of the Helsinki Commission on the Protection of the Baltic Marine Environment. The Russian government has decided to prepare and launch the implementation of a programme to improve the Baltic Sea ecology.

The programme will cover the period of 2010-2015. It is based on the measures set forth in the Helsinki Commission action plan. Today we attended the work of the Third Russian-Finnish Forestry Summit, he said.The development of partnership in this important area is central to Russian-Finnish bilateral economic relations, Putin said. Naturally, our decisions in this field should be flexible and should take into account the real situation and the problems engendered by the global economic crisis.

Therefore we have decided to accommodate our long-time partners by freezing for a further year - in fact it will most probably cover the year 2011 as well - the introduction of higher duties on the export of raw timber. But as I said, the moratorium cannot last eternally. We have made our strategic choice in favour of rapid development of the timber processing industry in Russia and we will continue our dialogue with our Finnish partners, Putin said.Putin stressed that Russian-Finnish relations are developing dynamically in every area.

This is particularly heartening knowledge today as we mark a milestone of our joint history, the 200th anniversary of the formation of the Finnish Autonomy within the Russian Empire, he said.Later, the two leaders attended together the opening of Finland House in St. Petersburg. We hope that its work will help to bring our states and societies still closer together and strengthen the spirit of genuine good neighbourhood between Russia and Finland which has for decades provided a good example of cooperation in Europe, Putin said.