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Russian president arrives for two-day visit in Norway

Other News Materials 26 April 2010 15:51 (UTC +04:00)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived Monday for a two-day state visit to Norway and was welcomed at Oslo's Gardermoen Airport by Crown Prince Haakon and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Russian president arrives for two-day visit in Norway

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived Monday for a two-day state visit to Norway and was welcomed at Oslo's Gardermoen Airport by Crown Prince Haakon and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, DPA reported.

The president, accompanied by his wife, was later to meet with King Harald and Queen Sonja, who were to host a luncheon at the Royal Palace.

Medvedev's agenda included a meeting with the speaker of the Norwegian parliament, Dag Terje Andersen.

A large delegation of business leaders and ministers accompanied Medvedev.

Topics during the visit were likely to include how the two neighbours can cooperate in extracting oil and gas from the Arctic seas north of them.

Oslo and Moscow have yet to agree on the final demarcation of a disputed zone - measuring more than 155,000 square kilometres - between the Spitzbergen archipelago and Novaya Zemlya.

According to a 1978 Grey Zone Agreement, the two countries can use the area for fishing. Interest in the area is high, not the least because the Arctic is believed to have large gas and oil reserves.

Security measures were not expected to be as tight as when US President Barack Obama visited the Norwegian capital in December to collect his Nobel Peace Prize award.

The latest state visit by a Russian president to Norway was in 1996 by Boris Yeltsin.

In 2002, Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin also visited Norway.

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