Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Chairman of SISTEMA JSFC’s Board of Directors, will lead a RUIE delegation to Paris where meetings are held, within the context of Russian President Putin’s official visit to France, between representatives of the two countries’ business communities at the initiative of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) and the French Businesspeople’s Association (MEDEF). The program for the SISTEMA JSFC chief executive’s visit to the French capital city contains a report he is to make to a business audience and several meetings with MEDEF members who are CEOs of France’s leading companies.

A joint meeting of RUIE and MEDEF delegations is scheduled for February 11. The Russian President is expected for the meeting. The French business community is obviously showing a heightened interest toward the upcoming meeting that is to be held as a sequel to efforts to promote collaboration between RUIE and MEDEF. The meeting is to be attended by upward of 300 delegates representing the two countries’ business communities. Two previous major meetings between the largest business associations in France and Russia were held in Moscow on April 5 and June 18, 2002.

Today, France ranks fifth in the total volume of investments in the Russian economy. Trade between France and Russia grew by 11.4 per cent in 2002, to $4.2 billion (as at January 1, 2003), and practically all leading French industrial groups and banks have established their presence in Russia.