Danish foreign minister to discuss European security in Moscow

MOSCOW. February 26. KAZINFORM Denmark's foreign minister begins a Russian visit on Thursday to discuss NATO enlargement and a proposed pan-European security pact, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put forward the security pact initiative in June 2008. Andrei Nesterenko said Denmark's Per Stig Moller and Russia's Sergei Lavrov would also exchange opinions on the dialogue between Russia and the EU, the Mideast settlement and developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The two foreign ministers will also discuss in detail bilateral relations, including in the economic sphere, and cooperation in the Arctic area and in the Baltic Sea. "Bilateral trade increased 37% to $3.67 billion in 2008 against 2007," Nesterenko said, adding that there were prospects for expanding further bilateral economic and investment contacts. Cooperation between Russia and Denmark on the Nord Stream gas pipeline project opens up new opportunities for other bilateral large-scale projects and helps enhance international energy security, Nesterenko said. The Nord Stream pipeline, being built jointly by Gazprom, Germany's E.ON and BASF, and Dutch gas transportation firm Gasunie at an estimated cost of $12 billion, will pump gas from Siberia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, bypassing East European transit countries. Lavrov last visited Denmark in May 2008, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti.