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Russia-France trade goes down 15% for first 9 months of this year

The trade between Russia and France shows a downward tendency this year after vigorous growth in the last few years

PARIS, November 28. /ITAR-TASS/. The trade between Russia and France shows a downward tendency this year after vigorous growth in the last few years, French Minister of Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq stated in the French capital on Thursday. The bilateral trade went down 15% for first nine months of this year, she said.

“For nine months of 2013 the trade has a 15% decline in both directions,” the minister said at the opening of the Russian-French Economic Forum in Paris.

Bricq noted that both countries should take some efforts to overcome this tendency, particularly developing new trends of cooperation. “We should invigorate our strategic partnership and set a new course of development,” she noted.

Bricq named the railway industry, particularly the construction of the high-speed railway lines and the overhaul of the railway stations among the guidelines, which Paris finds promising for the development of joint projects. Meanwhile, the minister noted the prospects of cooperation in urban construction at the level of the projects Greater Paris and New Moscow (the project of expanding the territory of the City of Moscow with new areas), as well as the work in the health care system, particularly the supplies of medical equipment and cooperation in biotechnologies.

“France also hopes to develop joint investment,” Nicole Bricq added. She recalled that the amount of French investment in Russian economy makes $15.5 billion, while Russian current investment in France amounts “only to slightly more than two billion dollars.” “Russian investment is expected in France, and we should do our best to receive them properly,” the minister said in conclusion. “We do not forget that Russia makes part of Europe, and the country will be always taken this way for us,” she added.

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