Unprecedented economic partnership with France, says Medvedev

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev encouraged French investors to help revitalise his country’s economy on Tuesday during an address to powerful business leaders. Medvedev hailed what he called an “unprecedented” economic partnership between the two countries and said it was “impossible to imagine relations between Russia and France” without economic ties.

Photo: Reuters

During his speech to the French employers association, Medef, Medvedev urged Russian and French companies to buy stakes in each other, before inviting French investors to an economic forum in St Petersburg in June.

Sergei Naryshkin, Medvedev’s chief of staff, puts French investment in Russia at over 7.4 million euros, while trade has increased by 25 per cent since 2006.

GDF Suez and Gazprom also announced that they had agreed terms for the Nord Stream gas pipeline, with the French energy giant taking a nine per cent stake in the project.

Gazprom chief Alexey Miller said they will cooperate in areas such as “energy saving, construction and operation of underground gas storage facilities, LNG [Liquefied Natural Gas] sales, scientific and technical cooperation and advanced training of specialists”.

In the automotive sector, Renault opened their upgraded Avtoframos plant in Moscow on Monday, and plans to increase production to 160,000 vehicles a year.

At the same time the French engineering firm Alstom is to take a 25 per cent share in Russian train parts manufacturer Transmashholding for 55 million euros.