MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will arrive in St. Petersburg on a working visit on October 25 on an invitation from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Russian government said on Monday.
"The two countries' heads of government will take part in the 3rd Russian-Finnish Forest Summit. Putin and Vanhanen are also expected to open the House of Finland - a center of Finnish culture, science and business," the statement said.
The premiers will discuss bilateral cooperation amid the economic crisis, the implementation of joint projects, and energy cooperation, primarily the Nord Stream gas pipeline project.
The Nord Stream pipeline, which will pump gas from Siberia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, bypassing East European transit countries, is being built jointly by Russian energy giant Gazprom, Germany's E.ON and BASF, and Dutch gas transportation firm Gasunie at an estimated cost of $12 billion.
Finland earlier raised environmental concerns over the construction of the pipeline.
The ambitious pipeline project is scheduled to be completed in 2012. The first of two parallel pipelines, approximately 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) long, each with a transport capacity of some 27.5 billion cu m per annum, is to become operational in 2010.
