France hopes the European Union can reach a deal with Russia on a new strategic partnership by the end of 2008, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said today after talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Mr Putin is on his first foreign trip since stepping down as president this month, showing he still has significant clout in shaping Russia's foreign relations.
Russia is looking to France to help it improve its strained relations with the 27-nation European Union and Mr Putin won assurances from Fillon that Paris was ready to play its part.
"We are hoping for a detente in the EU-Russia relationship," Mr Fillon told reporters.
Negotiations on the new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which covers energy, trade and political ties, are expected to start in June after an 18-month deadlock caused by disagreements between Russia and eastern EU members.
France takes over the rotating EU presidency in July and Mr Fillon said he wanted a deal by the end of that six-month term - much sooner than most political analysts are expecting.
"We have agreed that we will together work for the earliest beginning of talks on a new strategic partnership... We paid a lot of attention to it during talks," Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin is due to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy later today in a departure from protocol for prime ministerial visits that underlines Putin's continuing importance after his protege, Dmitry Medvedev, replaced him as president this month.
As prime minister, Mr Putin is in charge of Russia's $1.3 trillion economy. Many political analysts say they believe Putin and not Medvedev is, at least for now, taking the lead in politics and foreign policy.
Mr Medvedev's first official trip to the West as president will be to Germany in June.