In preparatory efforts, Russia's Ministry of Education and Research singled out five top-priority areas for such partnership-robotics, biotechnologies, laser technologies, optics and, last but not least, nanotechnologies.
"France and the European Union as a whole have acting programmes and practical patterns of venture business financial support. We Russians look forward to borrowing them, and France emphatically approved our proposals.
"The goal we have posed is ambitious but perfectly attainable-to draft a partnership programme for high technologies and investment venture financing, and do all we can to have it signed during Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's official visit to Paris, due December 9-10.
"We are certainly pressed for time, but we have sufficient chance to apply final brushstrokes on the programme, and sign it," Mr. Naryshkin said to newsmen.
Another matter was prominent on the council agenda, too. That was business personnel training. A related Franco-Russian programme has been in action for several years now. Regrettably, work on it has lost momentum this year. "We said we were eager to see France stepping up efforts on the programme. The French negotiators welcomed our call to train an approximate hundred managers a year. France is willing to finance the efforts, and will earmark necessary sums as it is drafting its budget," added Sergei Naryshkin.
