Russia, France to boost space, nuclear cooperation
October 28, 2013, 9:52 am

The French prime minister will attend the Open Innovations forum in Moscow from October 31 to November 2 [AP]

In an interview for Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a Russian daily newspaper, Jean-Pierre Chevenement, France’s Special Representative to Russia said that French entrepreneurs are interested in cooperating with Moscow in a number of areas.

“I think that we will talk about cooperation in the space industry, I hope that cooperation in the nuclear sphere will also be discussed, as well as about promoting student, university and scientific exchanges,” Chevenement said.

“Of course, we would also address cooperation in the railroad industry,” he said adding, “I know that there are some projects of interest to us, [such as] to build commuter rail links around Moscow, tram projects and plans to build a high-speed rail link between Moscow and Kazan that undoubtedly will be of interest to French entrepreneurs.”

French and Russian firms have participated jointly in the construction of the “Nord Stream” and “South Stream” gas pipelines, the programme of launching a “Soyuz” launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Centre and the joint development of the “Sukhoi Superjet 100” passenger aircraft.

France is one of the three largest investors in Russia, according to official figures.

French investments into Russia’s domestic economy exceeded nine billion euros this year.

More than 470 companies with French capital operate in the Russian market.

Ayrault, as well as his Russian and Finnish counterparts, Dmitry Medvedev and Jyrki Katainen will attend the Open Innovations forum in Moscow from October 31 to November 2.

The French prime minister will be accompanied by France’s ministers of industry, transport, education, foreign trade and the agriculture minister.

Source: Agencies