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French President Macron's participation in SPIEF 2018 under consideration — Kremlin

Moscow is interested in participation of France in the forum because this country is a very important partner of Russia, the Kremlin spokesman said

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Participation by French President Emmanuel Macron in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), set to be held in 2018, is under consideration, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"Contacts are underway regarding the top-level participation, but I would prefer not to run ahead of announcements from Paris," Peskov said.

Moscow is interested in France's participation in the forum because this country is one of Russia’s very important partners, Peskov said. "The first contacts between heads of states, Putin and Macron, set highly positive dynamics, which implies (they are) progressing and developing cooperation where possible, rather than focusing on relations regarding topics where there are disagreements," he said.

Russia "will also be glad to see the French business (sector) at the St. Petersburg forum, especially since it has had a far-reaching presence in various segments of the Russian market for a long time," Peskov added.