One of the responsibilities of the President of the European Council is to represent the EU externally at international summits, usually alongside the President of the European Commission. Bilateral summits are organised between the EU and its strategic partners. Such summits are held on a regular basis, usually once a year, with countries such as Japan, the US, Russia, South Africa, Brazil and China. The location for the summits alternates between Brussels and the country concerned.

1. Canada-Europe Round Table for Business (CERT): Dedicated to creating business opportunities between Canada and the European Union. CERT actively develops company-member interests by: Contributing recommendations to government to shape public policy and increase bilateral trade and investment, hosting thematic, high-level meetings focused on developing strategic relationships between company executives and with government officials. The CERT meets on the margins of the EU-Canada Summit.

RETHINKING EU-RUSSIAN RELATIONS  

It is time for a fundamental rethink of the EU’s Russia policy. Europeans need to approach the Russians on European terms while remaining fully aware that Russians have their own interests, values, and terms of reference. The issue for the EU is not what the Europeans want Russia to be or to become. Instead, Europeans should think about what they want or need from Russia in the short and longer term as well as whether and how this is achievable.  

According to IMF estimates, over the next years, 90% of world demand will be generated outside the EU. That is why it is a key priority for the EU to open up more market opportunities for European business by negotiating new Free Trade Agreements with key countries. If the EU were to complete all its current free trade talks tomorrow, it could add 2.2% to the EU's GDP or €275 billion. This is equivalent of adding a country as big as Austria or Denmark to the EU economy. In terms of employment, these agreements could generate 2.2 million new jobs or additional 1% of the EU total workforce.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives is a not‐for‐profit, non‐partisan organization composed of the CEOs of 157 leading Canadian enterprises. Member companies collectively administer $4.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues in excess of $850 billion, and are responsible for most of Canada's exports, investment, research and development, and training. The Council is represented by virtually every economic sector of the Canadian economy

The 28-nation bloc's Heads of State and Government tasked the European Commission to "urgently" prepare tougher economic sanctions against Russia that could be adopted within a week. The decision on new sanctions will depend on the evolution of the situation on the ground. The EU leaders call on Russia to "immediately withdraw all its military assets and forces from Ukraine.

The new sanctions would target the same sectors as previous punitive measures, which also included an export ban for some high technology and oil exploration equipment.

The first challenge is the economic situation: The financial crisis is receding but huge economic problems remain. Unemployment in Europe is at record highs and goes a long way to explain voter dissatisfaction with national and European leaders. Debt levels are historically high. Economic growth has turned positive again but remains far too feeble to alleviate the high joblessness or meaningfully reduce public debt, in particular in countries with high debt levels.

When considering sanctions, we need to distinguish between their effectiveness and impact. Figures about economic negatives such as reduced trade, foreign investment, credit flows, technology transfer, GDP growth, incomes, and so on these measure impact. They do not, however, tell us how likely the sanctions are to cause Russia to change its behavior that is, how effective they will be.

Ukraine is a country long divided by ethnic, linguistic, religious, cultural, economic, and political differences, particularly its western and eastern regions, but not only. When the current crisis began in 2013, Ukraine had one state, but it was not a single people or a united nation.

General Terms of Peace Negotiations

Europe should support advanced technologies and innovation to remain globally attractive. There are several measures that need to be taken to compete more successfully with some of the global destinations. Some of the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial cities have certain ‘hard’ features in common: