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Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov took part in that meeting alongside their French counterparts, Dominique de Villepin and Michele Alliot-Marie.

In his opening remarks, President Putin said Russia and France saw eye to eye on a wide range of key bilateral and international issues.

Russian-French relations have gained momentum in recent years and have also progressed in terms of quality, Mr Putin said. According to him, the important thing is that Russia and France have managed to build up mutual trust.

President Putin expressed confidence that the Russian-French military exercises in the Norwegian Sea would become one of the first practical moves towards international security based on a multipolar world. This will be the first such experience for Russia, he said, as it has never had a naval exercise with a NATO member state before.

The Russian leader said he was certain that the establishment of the Russian-French Council for Cooperation on Security Issues would give a new impetus to the interaction between the two countries and would also enable them to find workable solutions to a number of urgent international issues.

The meeting participants discussed prospects for the development of Russian-French partnership in areas such as defence and security and in countering new challenges and threats. Other topics raised included nuclear non-proliferation, specifically with regard to the nuclear programmes pursued by Iran and North Korea, European security and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Collaborative defence industry projects were also on the agenda.