"Russia is the EU's third-largest trading partner after the United States and China. We are the EU's fourth-largest supplier. During the past year, Russia imported more than 100 billion euros worth of goods from the EU. This is a significant amount in international economic relations, which is why our consultations are obviously important."

"It is gratifying to note that we have restored the cooperation format between the Russian Government and the European Commission. We have held two meetings in this format, in 2004 and 2005."

"Under the law and memo on fiscal policy, one of the priority tasks of the Bank of Development is to support small and medium-size business. This primarily applies to companies that are operating in production, introducing new technologies, and creating jobs. As we understand, this is particularly urgent today."

"Major projects in nuclear energy, hydrocarbon development, including the well-known South Stream project, have attained particular significance. I think we'll be able to discuss all these issues."

"In the next few months, the state will considerably increase the share of its participation in the banking capital of the second level. This primarily applies to private commercial banks. I'd like to stress once again that I'm talking about the second level, that is, so-called subordinated loans. They are given for a long term and cannot be recalled ahead of time. For this reason, banks register them as their capital. However, creditors do not have the right to take part in administering banks; the ownership of banks does not change, either."

"We have many common interests, and many large, important projects spearheaded into the future, in addition to the traditional space exploration projects. We have also many other spheres of interaction, such as power generation and engineering. Power generation implies not only hydrocarbons but also electricity and nuclear generation. In short, we have joint projects and plans in almost every sphere."

"We have recently received about 45 applications from foreign partners on investment in Russian strategic companies. This indicates that despite all the consequences of the global financial turmoil, interest in the Russian economy remains high. At the same time, it is important to realize that tense competition for investment will unfold during post-crisis recovery. Our task is to actively create the best possible environment for this investment in our economy."

"Russian companies will be unable to make foreign loans on the same previous beneficial terms in the near future, seeing as the West has economic and financial problems. This is why our banking system should replace this source and ensure the necessary amount of industrial crediting at acceptable, economically substantiated interest rates."