Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki will start a two-day visit to Russia on 28 October

Her first engagement will be at INTERFISH - an international exhibition on fish and seafood - where she will deliver a key note speech on "Sourcing Sustainable Seafood" before the Business Forum "The future seafood market, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to EC.

Enriching Russian counters with high quality fish products". The event is organised by the Federal Agency for Fisheries of the Russian Federation and Norwegian Seafood Export Council.

Later that day First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and the head of the Fisheries Agency Andrei Krainy will receive Ms Damanaki to discuss bilateral fisheries issues, including the Memorandum of Understanding between EU and Russia signed in 2008 and the fisheries chapter of the upcoming EU-Russia framework agreement. On 29 October, Commissioner Damanaki is scheduled to meet Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov, Minister of Transport Igor Levitin and the head of the Sea and River Transportation Agency Alexander Davydenko. They are expected to talk about the Integrated Maritime Policy in general as well as maritime issues for the Baltic Sea and the Arctic. A press conference will follow. The same issues will be on the agenda at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the afternoon, when Commissioner Damanaki meets with Deputy-Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko. A series of diplomatic engagements and cultural visits will close the Commissioner's trip.