Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet later on Friday his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka to discuss the Minsk process on Ukraine, the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and Syria
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet later on Friday his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka to discuss the Minsk process on Ukraine, the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and Syria.The Soviet Union and France established diplomatic relations on October 28, 1924. On February 7, 1992, the two countries signed a bilateral treaty confirming their intention to expand relations of concord based on trust, solidarity, and cooperation.
France ranks among Russia's leading partners in Europe and worldwide. Despite the fact that France joined the European Union's Russia sanctions over Ukraine in 2014, both countries maintain intensive political dialogue and cultural cooperation, including humanitarian exchanges.
On May 29, 2017, a week after Macron assumed the presidential office, Putin arrived in France at the invitation of the French leader to discuss bilateral relations, the settlement of the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts, as well as other issues on the international agenda.
Putin and Macron also visited an exhibition in honor of Peter the Great's 1717 diplomatic visit to France.
The bilateral meeting created a new vector for developing Russian-French relations, with the two leaders having confirmed their interest in the further development of the relations.
On July 8, 2017, the two leaders held a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg and confirmed their commitment to move toward restoring full-format cooperation.
Macron arrived in Russia for an official visit on May 24, 2018, and the two leaders discussed the entire range of bilateral issues, as well as the international agenda. Macron also took part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as a special guest. The next day the leaders of the two countries met with representatives of the Russian and French businesses and spoke at the plenary session of the forum.
Macron also visited Russia to support the French national football team at the FIFA World Cup in summer 2018.
On November 11, 2018, the Russian president took part in celebrations in Paris, dedicated to the 100-year anniversary marking the end of World War I.
The next time that Putin and Macron met was on the margins of the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires on November 30, 2018.
On December 5, 2018, Putin held a private meeting with Francois Fillon, who served as prime minister of France from 2007 to 2012.
Regular bilateral contacts are also maintained at the level of prime ministers and ministers of the governments.
On June 24, 2019, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited France at the invitation of his French counterpart, Edouard Philippe. This was their first personal meeting. During the talks, the heads of government discussed key issues of Russian-French cooperation in trade, economic, investment, energy, industrial, cultural, humanitarian and other fields.
On February 27, 2018, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a working visit to Moscow.
The Russian and French foreign ministers held a meeting on the margins of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2018.
On November 27, 2018, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited France, where he held talks with Le Drian. Then they took part in the meeting of the Trianon Dialogue, the Russian-French civil society forum, coordinating council.
Russia remains in close contact with France to resolve the Ukrainian crisis in strict compliance with the Minsk agreements, which were brokered by the leaders of Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine.
Both countries are engaged in resolving the situation in Syria. On July 24, 2018, Lavrov and Russian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov met with Macron to discuss the situation in Syria, the tasks of speeding up the political settlement process, as well as the issues of the country's post-conflict reconstruction.
On October 27, 2018, a summit on the Syrian settlement was held in Istanbul. These were the first talks in such a format, in which the leaders of Russia, Turkey, Germany, and France took part. The four countries expressed commitment to Syria's territorial integrity, clearly identified the problems of Idlib and the Eastern Euphrates, and the intention to work together to combat terrorism.
France ranks among Russia's high-priority trade and economic partners. In 2018, the trade between Russia and France amounted to $17.1 billion, showing an 11.2 percent increase compared to the previous year. Russia's exports totaled $7.6 billion, while Russian imports reached $9.8 billion.
Trade between Russia and France in the first quarter of this year already reached $4.8 billion, including $2.3 billion in Russian exports and $2.4 billion in Russian imports.
Russia exports to France mostly consist of mineral goods (80 percent of all Russian exports to France); machinery, equipment, and transport systems; chemicals; metals and metal products; and wood and pulp, and paper products.
Russian imports include chemicals; machinery, equipment and transport systems; food and agricultural raw materials; metals and metal products; wood and pulp and paper products.
France traditionally ranks among leading European investors in Russian economy. According to experts, France was the largest investor in Russia in 2014-2016. As of today, French direct investment in Russia totals $18 billion.
Over 600 companies with French capital operate in Russia and in various sectors of the Russia economy. French companies boast the strongest positions in the fuel and energy sector (Total, Alstom and EDF Group), the automotive industry (Peugeot-Citroen and Renault), pharmaceuticals (Sanofi Aventis and Servier) and the food industry (Danone and Bonduelle).
Other major French investors include Auchan (retail outlets), Saint-Gobain (construction materials), Air Liquide (chemical industry), Schneider Electric (engineering and power-generating machinery), Lafarge and Vinci (construction industry), the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company/EADS, Thales Alenia Space and Safran (aerospace).
As many as 40 Russian companies operate in France, with Russian Railways being the main investor in the country's economy it owns a 75 percent stake in logistics company GEFCO. Other major investors are Rostec state corporation; Russia's energy giant Gazprom's subsidiary corporation Gazprom Marketing and Trading; Starsem, a joint venture of Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos and French Arianespace commercial launch service provider; and Rosatom France, a branch of Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom.
The total amount of Russian investment in the French economy is $3 billion.
On the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in May 2018, the Russian Direct Investment Fund signed six investment agreements with the French side for a total amount of about $1 billion Euros ($1.1 billion).
The Russian-French Commission on issues of bilateral cooperation (IGC) and the Council for economic, financial, industrial and trade issues (CEFIC) are the main agencies for intergovernmental cooperation between the countries.
The IGC was established on February 15, 1996. Its members have held 18 meetings to date, with Moscow hosting the latest meeting on November 1, 2013.
The CEFIC is the main working body of the IGC. The CEFIC has 12 specialized working groups that are responsible for bilateral trade and economic cooperation. The CEFIC members meet regularly in Russia and France on a rotating basis, with the last meeting taking place in Paris on December 17, 2018.
At the beginning of September 2017, Moscow and Paris signed a joint statement on launching the Trianon Dialogue bilateral forum, a permanent structure for the interaction between civil societies.
The two countries have rich cultural and humanitarian ties.
The year of 2017 was the cross culture year of Russia and France. It marked the 300th anniversary of Russian Emperor Peter the Great's visit to France. A number of events, including an exhibition at Versailles, prepared in cooperation with the Russian State Hermitage Museum, took place in France.
In 2018, Paris hosted a number of events dedicated to the Russian language and the country's writers.
