NICE, France (AFP) - Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev was to meet Friday with European leaders to work towards a common position on the eve of a global summit called to review the international financial system.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and senior EU officials were to hold talks with Medvedev in the southern resort of Nice, just as the Russian leader urged a new economic partnership between Moscow and the European Union.
Sarkozy, Medvedev and European Commission chairman Manuel Barroso were to meet in the Sarde Palace in this Riviera resort for four hours before jumping in their planes and jetting off to Saturday's G20 summit in Washington.
Moscow and Brussels remain divided over the aftermath of August's war in Georgia, but both Medvedev and Sarkozy, who holds the rotating EU presidency, have signalled a similar take on the global financial crisis.
"Russia is ready, together with the EU and other partners, to participate in working out the parameters of a new financial architecture," Medvedev told European and Russian business leaders in France on Thursday.
Earlier, an official in Sarkozy's office had noted that an exchange of diplomatic notes had revealed an "overlap" in Moscow and Paris's ambitions.
The French president has said the Washington meeting should seek to lay the groundwork for a complete overhaul of the world's financial architecture, an idea Russia was pushing even before the current global slump.
It seemed unlikely that the rival power blocs would arrive in Washington with a joint blueprint for an overhaul of international financial law, but it was clear that Brussels and Moscow were moving closer together.
Both Medvedev and Sarkozy have criticised US economic management in the run up to a credit crunch that has endangered international banks, put the squeeze on businesses and consumers and pushed national economies into recession.
Sarkozy has called for the G20, which groups the biggest industrialised economies alongside the most important emerging nations, to "remake the world financial system", creating a so-called Bretton Woods II.
Bretton Woods is the nickname of the post World War II consensus that saw the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Moscow has lobbied for change in the running of these bodies and, in particular, for more weight to be given to representatives of the so-called "BRIC" emerging nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China.
It was not clear how much detail of the EU and Russian ideas would emerge during Friday's Nice summit, but observers will watch for signs that the economic crisis has strengthened strained ties between Brussels and Moscow.
Many EU members, however, remain angered by Moscow's trampling on Georgian sovereignty in the wake of August's war, and will hold out against stronger ties for at least as long as Russia maintains reinforced garrisons there.
