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On 2 November 2004, Latvia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Artis Pabriks, is participating in the meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) in Brussels.
The Council plans to discuss the agenda of the European Council and to approve its conclusions. The European Council will meet on November 4 and 5, and its agenda will include the Lisbon strategy; the EU long-term programme for strengthening freedom, security, and the rule of law; and the EU initiative Communicating Europe.
Regarding the preparation for the EU-Russia summit that will take place on November 11 in the Hague, the GAERC has to agree on the objectives to be achieved at the summit. The most important of them is to try to reach an agreement on EU-Russia road maps for four common areas. The EU supports the adoption of the road maps in a single package that would include all the essential issues and interests of the European Union.
In the discussions on EU external relations, the main issues will be the Middle East peace process, Iraq, the African Great Lakes Region, Belarus, Somalia and Guinea-Bissau.
Latvia's position on these issues was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on October 26 and by the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima (Latvia's parliament) on October 29.
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