French political, business circles ready for new talks with Russia

PARIS, June 20 (Itar-Tass) -- The French political and business
circles are getting ready for a new round of talks with Russia that will
be held during a forthcoming visit of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin in France. The Russian premier will arrive in the French capital on
Monday afternoon.
High on the agenda of Putin's two-day visit in France are meetings
with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
Putin will also attend an unveiling ceremony of a monument to the warriors
of the Russian Expedition Corps and will visit a Le Bourget aerospace
show. Putin is also expected to meet with members of the Russian-French
Dialogue public association.
Economic talks will continue the negotiations between the prime
ministers during the December meeting of the Russian-French Cooperation
Commission in Moscow. "Russia is a very important strategic partner for
France," Fillon said. The French leadership noted the country's intentions
"to support Russia in its efforts aimed at modernization."
The past year saw a major expansion in business ties, a source in the
Russian trade mission in Paris told Itar-Tass. Russia's exports to France
went up 42.5%, mutual exchanges increased by 31% and are close to 23
billion dollars.
Last week several new documents were signed with French partners in
St. Petersburg. French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Pierre
Lellouche called a contract for the delivery of two French helicopter
carriers Mistral to the Russian Navy historical. The Russian major arms
exporting company Rosoboronexport noted that the contract costs 1.2
billion euros. Russia will play a remarkable role in a 49th aerospace show
Le Bourget, which will be the largest in the history of this exhibition.
An unveiling ceremony of a memorial to Russian defenders of France on
the Seine right bank is timed to a new Russian-French top level meeting.
The memorial is dedicated to the Russian Expedition Corps, which was
dispatched to France during the First World War. "The heroism of Russian
infantry went down in French military history," a well-known historian and
a Sorbonne Professor Francois-Xavier Coquin said. After the October
Revolution in Russia the corps was disbanded, but most of its fighters
were enrolled as volunteers in the Russian Legion. The Russian Legion was
called in France as the Russian Legion of Honour, because they slowed down
the Nazi advancement to Paris at the cost of heavy losses.
The delegations will synchronize the positions in the run-up to joint
linguistic and literary seasons. The seasons will follow the Russia-France
Cross Year, which brought the partnership between the countries to a new
level.