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Russian, French defense ministers to set out cooperation areas between agencies

French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly announced that it was her first visit to Moscow

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu and French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly will set out the working areas to advance the cooperation between the two defense agencies at their meeting in Moscow.

"We carefully studied the assessments and proposal put forward by you on September 3. Our positions are close on basically every issue. Of course, there can never be a full concurrence of opinions. However, I suppose, the basis for a respectable talk and willingness to hold dialogue on settling differences is evident," Shoigu said.

"I think that we could agree on tasks for experts which would fill our cooperation with new contents as a result of our meeting," he continued.

In turn, Parly announced that it was her first visit to Moscow. "And I understand what an important moment in relations between France and Russia it is. Therefore, I believe that we should go down the dialogue path," she said.

Parly also thanked the Russian side for careful consideration of the proposals prepared by France. "Like you, I hope that we could come up with particular directions, which we could continue working on in the coming weeks and months following our meeting," the French minister of the armed forces said.