Presidents of Russia and France have telephone conversation

The Presidents of Russia and France Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac have agreed to continue co-ordinating efforts to ease tensions in Central Asia and bring the relations between India and Pakistan back to normal.

The Russian presidential press service reported to RIA Novosti that this agreement was reached during a Monday telephone talk between Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac.

The Russian President summed up the discussion of current Indo-Pakistani relations at the Alma-Ata negotiations involving President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India.

Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac also discussed plans of summit contacts for the near future.

The Russian President said he was sure that the parliamentary election in France would give a new impetus to joint efforts to develop Russo-French bilateral cooperation and interaction in the international arena, the press service concluded.