Press Statement following the Tripartite Meeting between the Leaders of Russia, Germany and France door President PUTIN, 23 september 2006.

Many thanks dear Mr President, dear ladies and gentlemen.

We have just had very comprehensive and productive talks with the Chancellor of Germany and the President of France.

The meeting took place in the spirit of openness and full mutual understanding that we have come to expect. Once again this meeting showed that this tripartite format is both in demand and produces positive results in practice. We see this format as a good and reliable mechanism to coordinate approaches and develop joint initiatives in the spirit of our strategic partnership.

Once again I shall emphasize that exchanging opinions in such a regular fashion allows us to not only better understand one another but also to react adequately to topical international threats and challenges, as well as coordinate our positions bilaterally.

Here I would like to point out at once the similarity of our positions on basic international problems. Jacques just mentioned this. And we once again confirmed our common aspiration to find a just settlement for the situation in the Middle East, including in Lebanon. Our common mood with regards to the political and diplomatic resolution of the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear dossier was also evident. And we have similar opinions with regards to creating conditions for establishing long-term stability in other explosive areas as well.

During the meeting we talked about the results of the G8 summit in St Petersburg. I am confident that when transferring the presidency from Russia to Germany we will be able to cooperate productively, including in spheres that hold special priority for us such as energy, the development of education, and the struggle against infectious diseases.

We paid special attention to Russia’s relations with the EU. It is obvious that developing the four common spaces remains an unconditional priority in cooperation between Russia and the EU. We hope that the true interest in deepening cooperation between Russia and the EU that our French and German partners showed at this meeting will allow us to seriously turn towards resolving the tasks at hand. I consider that such an approach will be conserved during Germany’s forthcoming EU presidency and then by France.

With regards to the other sectors in which we engage in tripartite cooperation I would also note that cooperation in industry and in energy are priorities for us. Russia is interested in mutual cooperation relations and in implementing joint projects in the high-tech spheres: in aviation, aerospace and modern transport infrastructure.

Of course we talked about the space sector and about aviation in reference to concrete projects. As you know, just yesterday we signed bilateral documents which will give us the opportunity to implement transport and infrastructure projects together and, in this case, projects of more than ten billion USD with our French partners. We have big plans with Germany in the energy sector and in mechanical engineering.

All of this was at the centre of our attention and I must point out that our meeting was not only constructive but was extremely business oriented and concrete. I am very thankful to the President of France, Jacques Chirac, for creating such a business-like and favourable atmosphere.

Thanks very much.

VLADIMIR PUTIN