Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday invited French businessmen to attend an economic forum in St. Petersburg in June.

Medvedev, who holds the annual forum in Russia's second city under his special patronage, extended his invitation during a meeting with leading Russian and French businessmen in France.

"We are expecting all the participants [of today's meeting] to attend the forum in St. Petersburg, if they wish to. It is a great event...I am sure it will be interesting," the president said.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has become one of the main stages to discuss urgent issues of global and regional economy. Last year, about 3,500 officials and businessmen from 83 countries participated in the event.

Analysts predict that this year's discussion at the St. Petersburg forum will be of critical importance, following the global financial crunch that has plagued world economies for the past two years.

While coordinated actions by national governments and the business community have successfully avoided a financial collapse and the global economy has started on a path towards recovery, the global community must now meet the dual challenge of securing that recovery while taking necessary steps to restructure economies and adjust imbalances in order to lay the foundation for sustainable, long-term growth and prosperity over the coming decades.

The 2010 St. Petersburg Forum on June 17-19 will offer top global decision makers an important and timely opportunity to assess post-crisis measures, examine key global macroeconomic trends, and exchange ideas on ways to change strategies to foster stronger economic growth going forward.

Medvedev expressed the hope that Russia would present a new Partnership for Modernization - an initiative launched by Russia and the EU last year - during the forum, which would "allow the Russian economy to adapt quicker to modern reality."

The president put forward the initiative at the Russia-EU summit in Stockholm in November 2009 by outlining four top priorities for Russia: technological progress and exchange of know-how; adjustment of technical regulations to meet EU requirements; Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization; and the facilitation of travel and contacts between Russian and EU citizens.

PARIS, March 2 (RIA Novosti)