Moscow, 22 May. Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Anatoly Chubais and Matti Vuoria, Executive Chairman of Fortum Corporation, the Finnish energy company, are organizing a working meeting of Co-Chairpersons of the EU-Russian Manufacturers Roundtable.

The Roundtable working meeting will be held on 24 and 25 May in Saint Petersburg, during the official celebration of the 300^th anniversary of the city, just before the EU-Russia summit. The Meeting will be attended by top managers of the leading Russian and European companies, who head the Roundtable working groups for trade and investments, industrial cooperation, energy, telecommunications and transport, as well as representatives from major manufacturers' associations and EU and Russian government authorities.

The Meeting will discuss further development of the Roundtable as a vehicle for expansion of business relations between Russian and EU manufacturers, and review the preparations for the Annual general session of the Roundtable scheduled for October 2003 in Moscow. The Meeting will also consider the possibilities for turning the Roundtable into a ground for strategic dialogue between Russian and European economies aimed at establishing a common economic environment, which is to be organized under the auspices of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE). The Meeting is also expected to adopt an Appeal to the forthcoming EU-Russia summit.