Russia expects a continuation of its strategic partnership with the European Union following yesterday's election of the bloc's first president, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
"We look forward to cooperation with the new EU leadership," Lavrov said. "I am sure that Herman Van Rompuy will continue pursuing a line toward developing strategic partnership with Russia."
Russia and the EU held a summit earlier this week, highlighting their cooperation on climate change, energy supplies and trade. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called the talks "one of the best meetings we have had." Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev was also positive over the outcomes of the meeting.
The parties strove to repair ties, strained among other issues by last year's Georgia war, but the summit produced no breakthrough in signing a new comprehensive partnership pact to replace a treaty that expired in 2007.
Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister, was elected president of the European Council by the 27-nation bloc's leaders at a meeting on Thursday evening, while Britain's Baroness Catherine Ashton was elected foreign policy supremo.
The two relatively low-profile candidates were unanimously backed by the EU leaders after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown abandoned his campaign to have ex-premier Tony Blair elected as EU president.
The president will have the role of a figurehead, without executive powers. Under the Lisbon Treaty on EU reform, the president will "take on the work currently assigned to rotating Presidencies" and "facilitate cohesion and consensus within the European Council."
The president will take office on January 1, for a term of two-and-a-half years.
MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti)
