PARIS, April 18 (Itar-Tass) – The Russian Week – a series of colloquia and conferences on contemporary Russia is beginning in the French capital on Thursday. The events focus on the development of the political dialogue, business and cultural contacts between France and the Russian Federation.

The Week will be opened by a colloquium at the National Assembly of the French Republic. Along with the well-known Russian and French lawmakers, the keynote addresses to its participants will be made by French Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Russia Jean-Pierre Chevenement, the heads of business associations and experts of think tanks.

The main theme of the reports, the organisers of the colloquium told Itar-Tass, will be the prospects of strategic partnership between the two countries. At the working sessions in the roundtable discussion format various aspects of bilateral relations, the possibility of reaching a new level of interaction will be discussed.

The Russian Week program also includes a meeting of Russian Ambassador in Paris Alexander Orlov with reporters at the international press centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France. The theme of this meeting will be Russia’s modern foreign policy.

The French business world will be widely represented at the upcoming seminar “France-Russia: the Future of Trade Relations.” It will be held at La D·fense business centre in Paris by the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the renowned international auditing company Ernst & Young.

The events will focus not only the new realities of the bilateral ties, but also history. Thus, a conference devoted to French priest of the Byzantine rite Paul Chaleil will be held in the central city hall of 6th arrondissement of Paris. Well-known French historians Veronique Jobert and Lorraine de Meaux

Lauren de Meaux will devote their reports to his fate and the Russian-French cultural association Aux deux ours (Two Bears) he created.

Relations between Moscow and Paris are now progressing on all fronts. According to experts, France is actually among the top three foreign investors in the Russian market. “Russia is an important country for the future of the French economy,” the Union of French entrepreneurs MEDEF states.

Unlimited possibilities of humanitarian contacts were demonstrated by the “cross” cultural-linguistic seasons that the two countries held last year. This explains the major interest of representatives of various spheres of French society in participating in the beginning Russian Week events. According to its organisers, there are virtually no vacant seats in the rooms where colloquia and seminars will be held.