Meeting with French President Francois Hollande

Meeting with French President Francois Hollande

Vladimir Putin met with President of France Francois Hollande. The meeting took place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, where the leaders of the two countries arrived to participate in the G20 Summit.

September 4, 2016

18:20

Hangzhou

 

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Meeting with French President Francois Hollande.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, colleagues,

It’s good that we have found the time to meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, as it provides an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations and issues that we consider pressing and that we are working to resolve.

We have already spent enough time talking about international and global economic problems – so now let’s turn to small, modest issues that concern both France and Russia.

President of France Francois Hollande (retranslated): Mr President, dear Vladimir,

I looked forward to meeting with you personally during the G20, because political problems have economic implications, because, when there is war, when there are conflicts, terrorism and refugees – all this has consequences for the economy, not to mention the people’s suffering when they face such problems.

I would also like to discuss preparations for the October visit to France you are planning. This visit will include a series of symbolic gestures, such as the inauguration of the Russian centre.

Also, I think we should discuss the situations in Syria and Ukraine, since we are all involved in addressing these problems. As for Ukraine, we need to discuss further cooperation in the Normandy format. As for Syria, here we need to move towards full-fledged dialogue. Despite certain military decisions already adopted by all parties, we still need to work towards resolving the crisis by political means. I think we all share a common goal, which is to combat terrorism.