Bill Rummel is going to visit Moscow and Yekaterinburg. In the Russian capital he will have talks with deputy foreign ministers Vladimir Chizhov and Yuri Fedotov, as well as deputies of the State Duma, businessmen and students. He will participate in the round table Joint Tackling of Security Problems with students of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the United States and Canada Studies Institute, the British Graduates Club.
In Yekaterinburg Mr.Rummel will meet with the governor and the city administration, representatives of British business.
The embassy said that Mr. Rummel will be the first British minister to visit Russia after the presidential election.
This visit seeks to underline the importance of British-Russian relations, buttress the hopes of the British government for the further development of cooperation, demonstrate the active support for the democratic reforms in the second-Putin-term Russia, said the embassy.
Before the visit Bill Rummel said that he is looking forward to his first visit to Russia, which remains one of Britain's key partners.
We seek the development of closer relations between Russia and the European Union, G8, World Trade Organisation, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. We also want to promote our successful contacts in the field of trade and investments. Britain wants Russia to be a stable and prosperous country, an influential member of the international community; we welcome progress reached over the recent years of reforms and are ready to continue backing the process, Bill Rummel emphasised.
