Francois Fillon's speech (as translated):

Mr Prime Minister, first of all I would like to thank you for coming to Rambouillet. As I have mentioned, this is a significant place for us. Many outstanding Russian state leaders have been here.

We have gathered here today on the occasion of the 14th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission. As we have just said, this is an important stage in bilateral relations. I would like to say that, although it does not always happen in bilateral relations, our cooperation is growing stronger with each new meeting.

I welcome the members of your delegation and want to say that our meeting this year is taking place at a crucial time, ahead of very important events for France and Russia - the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia, which are scheduled for 2010.

We plan many events for these exchange years in culture, science and education. Ties between representatives of our civil societies and our economic cooperation will grow stronger. One of the key events of 2010 will be the visit by President Dmitry Medvedev to Paris in March and the visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy to Moscow in May. And we expect you, Mr Prime Minister, to come to France in May to open an important Russian exhibition in the Grand Palais in Paris.

Fully aware of our responsibilities, we have not been idle during the ongoing economic crisis. Both France and Russia have made their contributions to the Pittsburgh summit. We have the same views of the market economy, which should be governed by international rules so as to prevent a repetition of the current situation, which is the result of the irresponsible behaviour of a number of financial institutions.

We are also working together on the issue of climate change. The opinions of Russia and France regarding behaviour at the Copenhagen conference and the results we can expect from it largely coincide.

By the way, we will attend the signing of a major agreement between the EU and Russia regarding the practical application of the Kyoto Protocol. This is evidence not only of diplomatic cooperation and of global agreement in Copenhagen, but also that we agree on practical steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I am referring to the use of flare gas at oilfields in Russia.

We have taken note of a very serious project proposed by President Sarkozy, which all the EU countries have approved today. Its objective is to bring our economies and social systems closer together in order to eventually create a common economic and social space between the European Union and Russia.

We believe that this is a crucial condition for the development of our economies. This is our response to the challenges of globalisation. We do not want to be passive witnesses to globalisation; we want to be active participants, which means we must search for common points of contact.

I would like to say also that during our previous meeting in Sochi we outlined the areas of bilateral cooperation where we - both you and I - want to advance despite the ongoing crisis. I see that we have gained achievements in the majority of these areas - our ministers will confirm this. This is very good, although there are some areas where we still have to make headway.

Mr Prime Minister, I give you the floor now, and then we will listen to our delegation members, the ministers.

Vladimir Putin's speech:

I am grateful to you for the opportunity to come here, to work in this wonderful palace, which is so beautiful and so well suited to work technically, making our work so comfortable.

We have many things to discuss today. France is a special partner of Russia in terms of deep political ties and the wide range in economic cooperation.

I would like to say that we have made great progress in this cooperation in the past few years. Our bilateral trade has decreased considerably because of the crisis, but there are also new opportunities and more potential projects we can implement.

I am especially happy that we are working together in all of these spheres. I take it as a positive sign that we are working in the most sensitive, most important areas together.

As for the crisis, the banking sector is partly responsible for it, yet I would not put all of the blame on bankers. It is true that they are to blame, but we should also determine which problems can be blamed on us - the governments, the decision-makers, the people who must control the stock markets and other institutions. This is something we should consider seriously.

As I have said, our efforts in bilateral relations have a positive future. We continue to work on practical projects in such high-tech fields as space exploration. We are now preparing launches at the Kourou spaceport. Our cooperation in aviation, which has been growing, covers not only freight transport but also manufacturing, including cooperative equipment manufacturing.

Our French partners have a 30% stake in one of our most promising projects, the SuperJet 100 airliner. This project is proceeding on schedule and is highly successfully. We hope to be able to work with buyers not only in the Russian but also in the European market.

We are also working together in communications, and our projects have a good future. We are also working in power generation, and these relations have seen fundamental change. French companies are not only expanding their involvement in the mining of hydrocarbons in Russia, but are also participating in major international infrastructure projects. We have just finalised the agreement between Electricite de France (EDF) and Gazprom on EDF's investment in a large international transport project - the construction of a natural gas pipeline on the Black Sea bed, which we call South Stream.

We have also agreed to work jointly in France and in other European countries. This implies a new quality, an exchange of assets. We have worked in this respect with our German partners, and now with our French partners.

We are launching projects in pharmaceuticals production. Promoting high technologies - in this case French technology - in this area is very important for Russia.

We also have good prospects for cultural cooperation. Last evening we discussed the planned events of the Year of France in Russia and the Year of Russia in France. The year 2010 promises to be very busy in this respect. We have prepared 130 events, but I think there will be more than that, and they will concern not only Moscow and Paris but also other regions in our two countries.

And lastly, I want to touch on a highly important issue, environmental protection and preparations for the global conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

You know - I have told you about this - that our professionals are working in close cooperation with each other. We know what France is doing in this respect - the French President is working actively to prepare this event. Russia has always contributed and will continue to contribute to the common efforts to resolve the problems associated with climate change.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the French Government on its progress in overcoming the economic crisis. We are also trying to do this every day, and we see that France is weathering the crisis better, even if not without losses, than many other countries. Moreover, we will use some of the approaches you have found and applied last year. I hope we will have an opportunity to discuss this.

Thank you.