Russia-French economic coop council to discuss new partnership

PARIS (Itar-Tass) - Projects of business partnership
between Russia and France will be in the focus of attention at a Friday
working session of the Russian-French council for economic, financial,
industrial and trade issues.
The council is co-chaired by French Minister of Economy, Finance and
Industry Francois Baroin and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander
Zhukov.
According to the organizers of the meeting, the council will discuss
cooperation in the areas of high technologies, modernization, as well as
energy and investment cooperation. In particular, participant in the
meeting will address issues of cooperation within the Russian project of a
research hub in Skolkovo. Apart from that, they will specify the agenda
for a meeting of the Russian-French commission on bilateral cooperation
co-chaired by the two heads of government.
Russia's economy is now very attractive to European investors. "The
interest of European investors to Russia is quite logical because Russia
is a European state with European culture," Emmanuel Quidet, a
Moscow-based partner with Ernst & Young, told Itar-Tass. In 2010, Russia
ranked among Europe's four biggest beneficiaries from foreign investments.
Quidet attributed this fact to "the reforms that removed
administrative barriers." Investors also positively assessed Russia's
course to closer cooperation with the United States and the European Union
and its efforts to join the World Trade Organization.
European investors say the most attractive sectors of the Russian
economy are information and telecommunications technologies. "Russia is a
country with Europe's biggest population of Internet users," the French
analyst said. "Such a wide popularity of Internet technologies is a good
base for the development of the innovative sector and a perfect way to
make investments in the future."