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RUSSIA - FRANCE
Under the aegis of the council, there
are twelve working groups that are
specialized in the main fields of
cooperation between our countries,
which enables French and Russian
experts to exchange good practices
and experiences. Among the issues
T
he strengthening of Franco-
Russian economic and industrial
cooperation is at the heart of the
activities of the Russian Trade Repre-
sentation in France, which since May
2018, in accordance with the decree of
Vladimir Putin the President of the
Russian Federation, has been placed
under the authority of the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce, headed by its
Minister Denis Manturov.
Franco-Russian relations have a long
history. In 2017, we celebrated the
300th anniversary of the inauguration
of our diplomatic relations. Today,
that France is still among our privile-
ged foreign trading partners. We
have several major bilateral projects
underway in nearly every field:
energy (Gazprom – Engie, Novatek –
Total), aeronautics (United Aircraft
Corporation – Safran), automotive
( A v t o v a z – R e n a u l t ) , s p a c e
(Roscosmos – Ariane Espace) and
innovation (Skolkovo – French Tech).
At the same time, more than 500
French companies do business in
Russia, including the largest foreign
employer in the Russian market,
Auchan Holding.
We also appreciate the fact that for
many years there has been tradition
between our countries of holding a
meeting every year of the Franco-
Russian Economic, Financial,
Industrial and Commercial Council
(CEFIC), which was set up in
February 1992. This council is chai-
red by Maxim Oreshkin, the Minister
of Economic Development of the
Russian Federation and Bruno Le
Maire, the Minister of the Economy
and Finance of the French Republic.
This enables us to tackle various
issues of economic, trade, financial
and industrial cooperation. In 2017,
we held two meetings of CEFIC, in
March and in December.
that were discussed recently, were
energy efficiency, support for SMEs,
innovation, the protection of intellec-
tual property and the fight against
counterfeit products. The next mee-
ting of CEFIC will be held in Paris in
December 2018.
As you can see, our trade with France
is very intense and diversified and
the Trade Representation plays its
own role, especially for supporting
industrial exports to France. With
this in mind, we regularly organize
meetings between the representatives
of Russian companies and their
foreign partners, as well as the
participation of Russian companies
in trade shows and international
exhibitions in France.
At the same time, the Trade
Representation is contributing to
promoting the candidacy of the city of
Yekaterinburg for the EXPO-2025
Universal Exposition. Yekaterinburg
is the largest city in the region of
Sverdlovsk and is a real bridge
between East and West. We can
already see that foreign companies
are expressing interest in ‘EXPO-
2025’, because this opportunity will
open new horizons for cooperation.
I hope that this edition of
« Cahiers
d’Échanges Internationaux »
will
contribute to the promotion of
Franco-Russian cooperation in every
field and enable the readers to know
more about our bilateral relations.
I wish you every success in your
initiatives and new mutually beneficial
contacts with Russia.
It is a great honour to have this wonderful opportunity of addressing the readers of
« Cahiers d’Échanges Internationaux »
, as well as to those who are especially
interested in the development of Franco-Russian economic cooperation and trade.
This journal has been recognized for a long time as not only a French economic
publication that is dedicated to trading relations between France and countries all
over the world, but also as a source of new ideas and projects for the business
community.
Alexandre TOUROV,
Minister-Counsellor, Trade Representative of Russia in France, Member of the Russian
Delegation to the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE)
©DR
'France is still among our privileged
foreign trading partners'
«
©Jozsitoeroe - AdobeStock
