Putin, French president congratulate Modi

Presidents of Russia and France have congratulated Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi on BJP's landslide victory in the general election and hoped that bilateral ties will further improve and strengthen under his leadership.
In his message, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Modi for BJP's "convincing victory" and hoped that both the countries will be able to achieve greater success and further bolster the relationship.
"From the bottom of my heart I wish you, esteemed Mr Modi, every success for the benefit of prosperity of the people of friendly India and comprehensive strengthening of mutually beneficial Russian-Indian cooperation," Putin said.
The Russian President talked about "large scale" projects in the economic, military-technical, scientific, cultural and humanitarian spheres and hoped that by joint efforts "we will succeed in augmenting the previous achievements".

"We highly appreciate traditionally friendly relations between our countries based on the declaration of strategic partnership, this fundamental document signed at the time when your party was in power, which determined the development of our interaction for the years ahead," he said.
French President Francois Hollande called Modi to congratulate him and assured him of his "commitment to the strategic partnership and friendship between France and India", French Embassy sources said.

The President invited Modi to come to France "when he wished", added the source.
"He confirmed that he would have France's support in the task at hand and reiterated his commitment to the strategic partnership and friendship between France and India, a partner and ally of France," the sources said.

Hollande also said that the head of French diplomacy Laurent Fabius would visit India by the end of June.