12th meeting of the Russia-EU Permanent Partnership Council on Freedom Security and Justice has been held at the Kazan City Hall

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Special Representative of the Russian President for interaction with the European Union in freedom, security and justice – Russian Justice Minister Aleksandr Konovalov, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation in European communities Vladimir Chizhov, European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Spanish Justice Minister Francisco Caamano Dominguez, Belgian Justice Minister Stefan De Clerck and Belgian Migration and Asylum Policy Minister Melchior Wathelet took part in the work of the meeting.

The participants of the meeting discussed results and prospects of EU-Russia cooperation in freedom, security and justice, migration and cross-border issues, implementation of EU-Russia decisions related to facilitation of the visa regime, the state of the non-visa regime, transnational crime combating, illegal drug trafficking, terrorism, human trafficking and legal cooperation in civil, trade and criminal spheres.

During the discussions, RF and EU law-enforcement bodies outlined the priorities in organized crime combating and drug trafficking, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal spheres. Special attention was paid to Afghan drug trafficking.

After the meeting, Aleksandr Konovalov told journalists that there was a noticeable advancement in the RF-EU dialogue. In particular, progress was made in the non-visa regime for Russian and EU citizens.

The special representative of the Russian President thanked the Tatarstan leadership for the good conditions created for the work of the participants of the 12th meeting of the Russia-EU Permanent Partnership Council on Freedom, Security and Justice.