Medvedev to have at least ten bilateral meetings in Japan

TOYAKO, Japan, July 7 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will hold more than ten sideline meetings during a three-day G-8 summit that kicks off on Monday. The leaders of the eight leading industrial powers will meet in the fashionable Windsor Hotel on the bank of Lake Toya on Hokkaido Island.

Dmitry Medvedev is expected to hold four bilateral meetings on Monday.

The first will be with U.S. President George W. Bush. The Russian
president's aide Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass that Dmitry Medvedev and George W.Bush met each other shortly after Medvedev was elected as
president.

The two presidents quickly established warm and friendly
personal relations. It's absolutely clear that the two will continue their friendly contacts in Toyako. President Medvedev will have an opportunity to congratulate George W. Bush on his 62nd birthday, which he marked on July 6.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be the second leader whom
Medvedev is going to meet on Monday.

"We are going to meet her without fail. It will be a good opportunity
to exchange our views on the latest Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiysk
and discuss Russian-German relations in the context of negotiations on a
new framework agreement between Russia and the European Union," Prikhodko went on to say.

The two leaders will also discuss a schedule of future
bilateral contacts, the preparation for a regular round of Russian-German
consultations, some international issues as well as trade and economic
cooperation.

Bilateral relations will dominate Medvedev's meeting with his French
opposite number Nicolas Sarkozy. However, international issues won't be
ignored. "We will certainly discuss international problems, first and
foremost our relations with the European Union, especially in the light of
France's rotating EU presidency in the second half of this year,"
Prikhodko stressed.

Prikhodko hoped that a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown, which is also scheduled for Monday, would focus on bilateral
relations. "The situation in the Russian-British relations is far from
normal. Therefore, we expect that the meeting will give a new impetus for its improvement," Prikhodko went on to say.

Prikhodko said that the Russian side was ready to discuss the
situation around TNK-BP with Gordon Brown. However, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev has already expressed the Russian state's attitude to this
problem. "It is a commercial dispute, and the state shouldn't get involved
in regulating relations between the shareholders and the company's
leadership," Prikhodko quoted Medvedev as saying.

President Medvedev will meet Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on
July 8. Prikhodko recalled that Yasuo Fukuda had visited Russia early last
April to meet the newly elected Russian president.

"The agenda will be dominated by bilateral relations, trade, economic
and investment cooperation and a discussion of joint opportunities to
develop the Far East and Eastern Siberia. A dialogue on a peace treaty
will be continued," Prikhodko went on to say. The two leaders will also
discuss how to improve the legal framework of Russian - Japanese relations.

On Tuesday, a separate meeting will be held with Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

On Wednesday, President Medvedev will meet Chinese President Hu
Jintao. "We will discuss the implementation of agreements which were
reached during the Russian president's visit to China in May; we will talk
about regional cooperation, including interaction within the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the run-up to the next summit scheduled
for August," Prikhodko explained.

The same day, President Medvedev plans separate meetings with
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Prikhodko noted that the time and number of Medvedev's bilateral
meetings could be changed inconsiderably because of busy schedule.