72
RUSSIA - FRANCE
E
mmanuel Macron, who was
accompanied by a large delega-
tion of French entrepreneurs and
company heads, wanted to send a clear
message during his official visit to the
Saint Petersburg Economic Forum on
24 and 25 May 2018: France wants to
continue to do business in Russia despite
the diplomatic tensions in recent years.
The head of state reminded that France
had remained one of Russia’s main
trading partners, despite the sanctions
that were imposed after the annexa-
tion of Crimea.
‘The fact that French
partners stayed the course during this
particularly difficult period is a source
of satisfaction to me. If I look at the last
tenyears, there isnot one foreignpartner
that has been as resilient’
, said the
President of France
(2)
. He also called
on French companies to invest more in
Russia, where France can ‘do better’,
especially in agri-food, space and digital
technology.
‘We are very active in terms
of direct investment and investment
flows, but we are no longer the number
one. It is never a good thing to be num-
ber one in difficult times and no longer
be number one when things are going
better. We must and can do much
better, in terms of jobs and investments
over the period.’
(2)
Continuing the détente
Before the French football team got
into the final and won the World Cup,
the French President announced that
he would go to Russia if this were the
case. On 11 July 2018, the Élysée
Palace confirmed that Emmanuel
Macron would talk with Vladimir
Putin before the final on 15 July 2018.
On that day, the French Head of State
went to Moscow to support the
French team. The President was
received two hours before the final at
the Kremlin and congratulated his
Russian opposite number for the
‘perfect organization’ of the 2018
World Cup
(1)
. This new meeting, a little
more than a month after the Saint
Petersburg Economic Forum, was
also the opportunity for the two
Russian and French leaders to conti-
nue the détente.
On Sunday 15 July 2018, Vladimir
Putin, the Russian President, welco-
med the positive development of
Russo-French relations, and confir-
med that the mechanisms for coope-
ration between the two countries
were being restored, declared the
Kremlin.
‘I want to stress the positive
trends in the economic and trade
sphere. Last year, the growth of our
trade was approximately 15% and it
was 19% during the first six months
of 2018’
, declared Vladimir Putin
during his meeting with his French
opposite number Emmanuel Macron,
indicated the Kremlin. The Russian
Head of State welcomed the upco-
ming meeting of the Russia - France
interparliamentary committee and
said that he was optimistic about the
prospects of future of bilateral coope-
ration.
‘The usual mechanisms of
cooperation are gradually being
restored. This gives us every reason to
believe that we are going to overcome
the difficulties that we encountered
recently, and that we are going to
move towards positive developments
in various aspects of our relations’
, he
added. The Russian President also
indicated that the development of
bilateral relations had been given
‘a
good impetus’
during the recent Saint
Petersburg International Economic
Forum, during which the two Heads of
State had talked.
On his side, Emmanuel Macron
welcomed the results that this mee-
ting had achieved for various bilateral,
regional and worldwide issues, and
said that he was ready to continue his
dialogue with the Russians.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, said during his official visit to the Saint Petersburg
Economic Forum inMay 2018, that hewould ‘go to support’ the French football team if they ‘got through
the quarter finals’. The French team got into the final and won the Football World Cup.
Emmanuel Macron benefitted from this to continue his dialogue with Vladimir Putin.
Saint Petersburg Forum,
Football World Cup, etc.
Source: (1): Le Figaro, 15 July 2018 - (2) RFI, 25 May 2018
©Philippe Vojazer/Reuters - AdobeStock
