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Russia, France agree to boost trade cooperation - Lavrov

"Last year, after a sharp decline the trade turnover had demonstrated a trend to growth, the trend continued in the first months of the current year, too," Russian Foreign Minister said

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russia and France have agreed to support further growth of bilateral trade turnover, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, summing up results of Tuesday’s talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian.

"[We] discussed trade and economic interaction," the Russian minister said, adding, "Last year, after a sharp decline the trade turnover had demonstrated a trend to growth, the trend continued in the first months of the current year, too."

"We agreed to support further efforts to the effect, especially with due into account the steadily growing interest of business communities in the stepping up of bilateral interaction," Lavrov said. "All French companies, which have business in Russia, continue presenting their country on the Russian market and expressing interest in the development of contacts with their Russian colleagues."

The French foreign minister, in turn, reaffirmed that 80 France's leading companies took part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 1-3. "The roundtable on Russian-French cooperation was held first ever in the format of the forum," the minister said.

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