Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Mestrallet, I'm very happy to see you in Moscow.

Quite recently, I met with the head of Total here, in this very room - it was about a month ago. I'm very pleased that we have developed such an active dialogue with the representatives of major French companies.

Gaz de France is our long-term, reliable and stable partner, one of the biggest European energy companies. We know about the level of your competence in gas liquefaction, and are interested in cooperating with you in this and in other directions - transportation, electric power, and renewable energy sources.

On the whole, energy industry is a major component of our cooperation with the French Republic. In this context, we are pinning great hopes on cooperation with such European grandees as GDF. Let me welcome you to Moscow.

Gérard Mestrallet (as translated): Mr Prime Minister, thank you very much for this reception. It is a great honour for us to be received by you, and represent our company, GDF Suez.

Our company is very young - Gaz de France and Suez merged exactly a year ago.

Former GDF Director-General Jean-François Cirelli is here with me. At the time of the merger I was his counterpart in Suez. We both decided to unite and create the world's biggest gas-electricity company.

It goes without saying that we strive to continue the comprehensive cooperation that was launched by GDF, as it continues to make steady headway with Gazprom and Russia for almost 35 years now.

Mr Prime Minister, this year our new company has a turnover of $83 billion and a staff of 200,000 employees.

On the one hand, we are involved in the energy industry, with everything linked with this sector. On the other hand, we deal with environmental protection. But the energy industry means electricity, gas, as well as utility services, and should be energy efficient.

After the merger, our group has occupied the first place in Europe in the purchase of gas, including LNG. We are also involved in its transportation and gas distribution. Our network, both in terms of gas transport and distribution, is the largest in Europe.

We are second in Europe in the network of underground gas storage facilities. We believe that it is necessary to develop simultaneously gas and electricity generation, including nuclear power generation, hydroelectric power development, and renewable energy sources.