Russian president arrives in Paris

Vladimir Putin arrived on a working visit to Paris, where he will hold talks with French President Francois Hollande, RIA-Novosti reports.

A trip to Paris will be the final visit in the first overseas tour of the newly elected Russian president. The first country that Putin visited after his election was Belarus. From Minsk he flew to Germany, where he held talks with Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and president of Germany, Joachim Gauck.

It is planned that the presidents of Russia and France will discuss bilateral relations in the fields of economy and power, prospects for cooperation between Russia and the European Union and NATO, the situation in Syria, Iran and Afghanistan and a number of other issues.

In 2011 the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to record 28.1 billion dollars. A number of long-term joint projects in the field of oil and gas, aerospace, nuclear and power generation, automotive and transport infrastructure development are being developed in partnership between France and Russia.