Deputy PM Alyoshin: France tech to open new possibilities for Russian-French cooperation

The France Tech 2003 exhibition in Moscow will open new possibilities for Russian-French co-operation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin said at the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Together with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin he took part in the exhibition's opening in Expocenter, Moscow.

"I hope such events will often take place in the lives of our countries," Alyoshin said.

"We have a big potential that so far has not been used, and it lies in the IT sphere, support to small and medium businesses and in the innovation area," he added. "I believe the exhibition that opens today has given a start to the use of this potential," the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out.

Raffarin in his turn said that the exhibition would allow showing Russians "the image of the new France".

"The whole world knows France as a producer of wines and cheese, but there is also a France of high technologies and innovations," he pointed out.

The France Tech exhibition in Russia presents over 150 French enterprises from 12 industries, such as aviation and space, construction and power industries, automobile-building and healthcare.

It is held under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Russian Trade and Industry Chamber. Russian and French businessmen are expected to sign a number of contracts after the exhibition.