underlines the importance of developing a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship between the EU and Russia in the field of transport; regrets that the issue of Siberian overflight payments continues to be an obstacle to the development of such a relationship; reiterates its strong concerns with regard to the system of Siberian overflight payments made by EC carriers for the right to overfly Russian territory; considers that this practice is not in line with Russia's obligations under the Chicago Convention, and in pa
rticular Article 15 thereof; reaffirms inter a ...[+++]lia its conclusions of 27/28 June 2005 in which it stressed the priority importance of reaching a satisfactory solution to the phasing out of these payments; considers reaching such a solution to be a prerequisite for Russia’s accession to WTO; recalls the commitment of the Russian government of May 2004 in this regard; mandates the Commission to negotiate an agreement with the Russian government assuring the complete abolition of payments at the latest by 31 December 2013; progressive reduction of payments during the transition period from 2006 onwards; the end of mandatory commercial agreements related to the overflight of the territory of the Russian Federation by 2013 at the latest; gradual removal of restrictions on overflights over Russian territory between Europe and Asia and complete elimination of all non-technical restrictions by 2013 at the latest. considers that such an agreement will supersede the relevant provisions in bilateral aviation agreements, including any related documents, between Member States and the Russian Federation; expresses the wish, on the basis of a successful resolution of the overflight issue, to examine with the Russian Federation the possibilities for further developing cooperation in the field of transport".