The meeting took place at the French Institute, an educational society consisting of five academies.
Russian-French political partnership was a traditional factor of European stability, Mr Putin said in his address. Russia and France were allies on many occasions in peacetime and in military-political alliances against impending threats.
Culture made a tremendous contribution to the privileged Russian-French partnership. Similar world views promoted the two countries’ effective cooperation in the United Nations Security Council, the G8, the OSCE and other international organisations. Both countries were convinced of the necessity to settle global problems on the basis of international legal norms and principles.
Mr Putin called on the two countries’ scientists to pool efforts for scientific and technological breakthroughs.
More than that, he said, mutual support of the international position of the Russian and French languages should become a goal shared by both Russia and France.