Russian-French relations

Russia's relations with France are a foreign policy priority.

In the past decade, the two countries' political dialogue has become intense and trustful, leading to the development of a privileged and strategic partnership.

France is one of Russia's major trade and economic partners. In 2011, bilateral trade increased by 25.2% to $28.1 billion. Russia's trade surplus reached $1.6 billion in 2011. In 2012, the negative trends in the French economy and the difficult situation in the eurozone affected Russian-French bilateral trade. In January-July 2012, the trade volume dropped by 18.4% to $14.4 billion compared with the same period in 2011. Russian exports dropped by 37.6%, while imports grew by 5.9% to $8.2 billion. The trade deficit in bilateral economic relations in January-July 2012 reached $0.923 billion. Such a large drop in Russian exports is explained by the sharp fall in energy deliveries by 37% from $8.8 to $5.5 billion.

As of April 2012, the cumulative French investments in the Russian economy were $7.6 billion, including $2.4 billion in direct investments. The cumulative Russian investments in the French economy were significantly lower at $139.8 million, with direct investments amounting to $68.4 million. In 2011, the French investments in Russia reached $4.3 billion, including $775 million in direct investments.

Mineral fuel and chemical products hold the leading position in Russia's exports to France – 89.3% and 4.5% of the total volume, respectively. The share of machinery, equipment and transport vehicles is 2.6% of the export volume. Major imports include machines, equipment and transport vehicles (54.3%), chemical products (27.7%), and food and agricultural products (10.8%).

The space, aircraft-building, energy, telecommunications and communications, automobile and oil industries are the most promising areas of bilateral cooperation, in addition to the agro-industrial and the utilities sectors.

About 470 French-funded enterprises operate in Russia. French investments in Russia are dominated by the processing industry (67.5%), wholesale and retail trade (18.4%), and the real estate and transport sector, each with a 5% share.

The major governing body that sets the strategy for developing and the major priorities of Russian-French relations in trade, economics, and science is the Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation, which was established in 1996 at the prime-ministerial level. At the commission's most recent meetings, a number of important intergovernmental and commercial agreements were signed.

The Russian-French Council for Economic, Financial, Industrial, and Trade Issues is the commission's primary executive body. The council's nineteenth session was held in Moscow on Nov. 9, 2012. Participants discussed bilateral economic cooperation – specifically in the aircraft, space, agricultural and energy industries, as well as executing promising joint projects, developing high tech partner relations, and motivating French companies to implement various infrastructure projects in Russia.

Russian-French scientific and technical cooperation includes almost all areas of science and technology. The two countries' relations in the fundamental sciences of physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology are being actively developed. These ties are also growing rapidly in the aerospace, energy, oceanology, IT, computer, scientific and engineering information industries.

New innovation projects are being developed in cooperation with France. At the commission's sixteenth meeting on Nov. 18, 2011 in Moscow, an action plan was signed to develop cooperation in modernisation, covering 90 joint projects. The document sought to join the two countries' efforts to strengthen Russia's and France's positions on world markets. France is improving its cooperation with Russia through its participation in the Skolkovo innovation centre project.

Cooperation in the aircraft and space industry remains a top priority in Russian-French relations. The calling card of the two countries' space cooperation is the Soyuz project at the Guiana Space Centre. The first launch took place on Oct. 21, 2011. In the next 15 years, at least 50 commercial launches of Soyuz-ST rockets will be held – or approximately four launches per year. Since 2004, Roscosmos and the French National Centre for Space Studies have been working on a programme in the Urals to develop and launch next-generation vehicles and to create a pilot transport system.

At the commission's sixteenth meeting on Nov. 18, 2011 in Moscow, both countries confirmed their plans to prioritise the development of cooperation and the joint implementation of projects in nuclear energy, nuclear equipment manufacturing, and the nuclear fuel cycle. The two countries agreed to promptly complete a joint road map to develop a next-generation reactor sustained by fast neutrons, which is set to become one of the largest joint high-tech projects in the world. Both Russia and France have spoken for uniting their export potential to prevent and to clean the aftermath of industrial accidents and to explore the possibility of establishing low-power reactors for third countries – especially for those without a nuclear industry.

Military technical cooperation has also been developing actively. Two projects are especially worth highlighting in this sphere. The first project was the signing of a Russian-French intergovernmental agreement on cooperation to build Mistral-class amphibious transport docks for the Russian Navy on Jan. 25, 2011. The second project was the signing of a contract to build amphibious transport docks on June 17, 2011 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. After the first two docks are constructed in France, the other two will be built at Russian shipyards using French technologies, which will then be handed over to Russia as stipulated by the agreements.

The cultural ties between the two countries have a long and rich history. The basic government agreement on cultural cooperation was signed on Feb. 6, 1992. In December 2004, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on teaching Russian in France and French in Russia. The Third Session of the Russian-French Commission on Cultural Cooperation was held on Feb. 2, 2007.

The year 2010 was declared the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia. The official ceremony was held on March 2, 2010 in Paris. The two presidents opened the "The Holy Rus" exhibition in the Louvre. As part of the programme, over 350 cultural, economic and scientific events were held. Five million people participated.