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Putin to meet Cameron, Hollande and Merkel

At the meeting, Putin and Hollande will address the crisis in Ukraine, particularly military operations in the country’s south-east and the May 25 presidential elections

MOSCOW, June 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s president will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and French leader Francois Hollande on June 5, the Kremlin press service said. On Friday, June 6, Vladimir Putin will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the French resort of Deauville as the day marks World War Two's D-Day commemoration.

“The Putin-Hollande meeting (apart from telephone conversations, the first personal contact between the two since the crisis in Ukraine) will address the crisis in Ukraine, particularly an end to military operations in the country’s south-east and the May 25 presidential elections," the Kremlin said.

"The issue of Russia-EU and Russia-NATO cooperation will be also raised within the context of unrest in Ukraine,” the press service noted, adding that “special attention will be paid to the situation in Syria after the June 3 presidential elections, affiars in Libya and international effort over Iran’s nuclear program.”

 

Economic cooperation on the agenda

Economic cooperation between Moscow and Paris would also be in focus, the Kremlin said, assessing France among Russia’s five major foreign trade partners in Europe.

Putin and Hollande will discuss measures to increase trade turnover that reached $22.2 billion last year, said the announcement, noting that while this figure was down on the 2011 record, more than 100 French companies still keen to work in Russia had joined the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last month.

Russian-French cooperation in high technology areas was reported as developing successfully, reflecting on Soyuz vehicles launched from Kourou space pad in French Guiana without failure since 2011.

Seven rockets were expected to be launched up to 2018 while French companies were supplying 30% of components for Russia’s Sukhoi Superject 100 civil airliner.

Energy cooperation intensified as well, the Kremlin statement said. Oil major Total was a partner in developing the Termokarst gas condensate deposit, with 49% of shares, the Kharyaga oil fields with a 40% share and the Yamal liquefied natural gas project with 20% of shares in the $27 billion project.

Russia and France also maintained effective partnership in gas infrastructure projects Nord Stream and South Stream, and in the automotive industry, Renault was a major investor in Russia.