Russia and France: trade and economic cooperation in the 1960s and 1970s on the basis of the materials of the RSAE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of documents of the Russian State Archive of Economics on the history of Soviet-French trade relations in the “era of detente.” The desire of France in the 1960-1970s to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with the USSR became one of the important components of the new foreign policy doctrine of Paris. The visit of French President Charles de Gaulle to the USSR in 1966 was the starting point for the improvement of Soviet-French relations. Following the results of the talks in Moscow, in order to improve trade and economic relations between the countries, intergovernmental commissions for trade were established, a Soviet-French Chamber of Commerce was established. To increase exports of equipment and machinery from the Soviet Union, so-called “Soviet-French mixed societies” were established. Documents on the history of Soviet-French trade are concentrated in the fund of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the Russian State Archive of Economics (RSAE). A common array of documents, typewritten copies of the record of interviews of employees of foreign economic associations with representatives of French firms and reports of the trade mission of the USSR in France. However, despite the friendly atmosphere of cooperation, the USSR and France failed to realize all the potential opportunities in the field of trade and economic relations. The share of the USSR in the foreign trade turnover of France was about 2%.