Putin, Chirac To Analyse Russian Contacts With Eu, Nato, Bilateral Partnership, International Affairs

Russia's President Vladimir Putin will pay a short routine visit to Paris early next week on President Jacques Chirac's invitation. He and the President of France will discuss Russian partnership with the European Union and with NATO, Franco-Russian contacts and international affairs, reports Francois Rivasso, spokesman to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. President Putin will go to the Palais de l'Elysee as soon as he arrives in Paris Tuesday, January 15, for negotiations with President Chirac. The summitry will go on at an official supper the host country's president will give in his guest's honour the same night. Mr. Rivasso is sure the upcoming summit will further encourage the Moscow-Paris dialogue, fruitful as it is. The visit will sum up official bilateral contacts, whose frequency spectacularly rose within last year's latter half, he added. Thus, President Jacques Chirac paid an official visit to Russia, July, while Igor Ivanov and Hubert Vedrine, respective Russian and French Ministers of Foreign Affairs, saw each other every month at bilateral conferences or international forums.