G8 News: French Foreign Minister in Moscow
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New French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner begins a visit to Moscow today and will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the first time this morning. Kouchner is well-known in Russia as the founder of Doctors without Borders and as the head of the UN mission in Kosovo from 1999 to 2001. Russian-French relations are still being determined after the election of Nicolas Sarkozy president there. Sarkozy and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the last G8 conference and clearly intended to work together, but the new French government’s orientation toward the United States draws it farther from Russia in foreign policy.
One of Kouchner’s main tasks in Moscow is to clear the way for the visit or French President Sarkozy next month. Both sides have high expectations for the negotiations at that time, since the presidents’ meeting at the G8 conference was so successful. A month after their first meeting in Heiligendamm, Sarkozy and Putin held a telephone conversation, the day after which Gazprom announced that the French company Total would be included in the development of the Stockman deposit. There are, nonetheless, a good number of points of disagreements between the countries as well. Russia is dissatisfied with the slow pace of work at the Almaz Antei Thomson Broadcast joint venture that is to use French technology to covert Russian to digital television broadcasting. An even more delicate subject is the ‚Äúsilent quota‚Äù on the delivery of nuclear material from Europe to Russia, which Russian diplomats wish to bring up for discussion. The French will want to discuss French businessmen’s complaints about the difficulty of receiving Russian visas and work permits. Kouchner may also mention French desires to enter the Russian markets for express railroad equipment and road construction. Foreign affairs are certain to be a hot topic as well. Besides the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, Palestine and Lebanon, Iran is certain to be a point of contention between the foreign ministers.
Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Multilateral Trade, East-West Relations and Russia