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Vladimir Putin highly praised the friendly and trusting atmosphere in which the dialogue between Russia and France is developing.

The message reads, in particular:

“I am confident that following the election of the new President of France the Russian-French partnership will preserve its constructive nature and positive direction, attributes that are in large part due to your personal efforts. Moreover, the present mechanisms for bilateral cooperation will act as a reliable basis for effective future cooperation. I am referring to the Russian-French commission on bilateral cooperation issues at the ministerial level, the Council for Economic, Financial, Industrial and Trade Issues, the Cooperation Council for Security Issues in which both countries’ foreign ministers and defense ministers participate, and the expanded Interparliamentary Commission.

I hope that our countries will continue to work closely together as permanent members of the UN Security Council, and that our political dialogue on key international issues will remain as trusting as before.

I highly appreciate the harmony of our viewpoints on the strategic issue of bringing Russia and the EU closer together. This enabled us to employ joint efforts to overcome certain difficulties that have surfaced in the Russian-EU dialogue more than once. I have no doubt that we will create four common spaces between Russia and the EU. We consider that one of our most important tasks remains ensuring that there is consistent progress towards a visa-free travel regime for our citizens. Contacts between our citizens help consolidate the feelings of mutual respect and affection that have traditionally characterised the feelings of Russians and French towards one another.

In general we are satisfied with the development of bilateral ties between our business communities. A number of major projects already exist or are being actively developed within the aviation sector, telecommunications, energy and automobile construction. We are successfully cooperating with our French partners in the space sector.”

The message also notes the importance of holding the Year of France in Russia and the Year of Russia in France.

Vladimir Putin expressed his deep appreciation to Jacques Chirac for his increased emphasis on the priority areas of Russian-French relations.