Mr Putin opened the second day of his state visit to France by visiting the Senate and meeting with its President, Christian Poncelet.
He expressed satisfaction with the current scope of Russian-French parliamentary contacts. Mr Poncelet said, in turn, that the Russian President’s visit to France confirmed the good bilateral contacts at the parliamentary and other levels.
Mr Putin stressed that the similarity of Russian and French stances on many relevant problems was not surprising since they stemmed from long-standing bilateral ties.
The French parliamentarians who attended the meeting said that they gave special attention to Russian-French partnership in air transport and the energy sphere.
See also
State Visit to France
February 10 − 12, 2003