Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to heartily welcome you to Moscow. You and I, Mr President, have known each other for more than ten years, and it is a great pleasure for me to receive you in the Russian capital this time.

Your visit has been very successful so far. Yesterday you held intensive, productive talks with President Dmitry Medvedev. You signed bilateral agreements, including a declaration on partnership for modernisation, an agenda for the development of economic cooperation, an agreement on research and technological cooperation, as well as agreements with various federal government bodies and regulatory agencies.

I know that you also plan to visit one of the most dynamic Russian regions, the Republic of Tatarstan on the Volga. I am confident that it will be an interesting visit because there is a lot to see there. Tatarstan and its capital are now preparing to host a major international competition, the World Student Games, which entails major construction projects. In general, Kazan is a rapidly developing city.

Russian-Austrian relations have been improving, moving into a new dimension of a partnership based on trust. Unfortunately, we encountered problems during the crisis. Before the crisis, bilateral trade exceeded $5 billion, but it is barely $3 billion now, and so we will have to work hard to regain the pre-crisis level and to move on.

It is good that you have brought along a large group of business leaders. For our part, you can see Russian business people here who are working in Austria. Austrians are interested in working in Russia, which is very pleasant. Accumulated Austrian investment in Russia has exceeded $4 billion; actually, it is $4.2 billion. There are hundreds of Austrian companies working in Russia. We are very pleased with this and will do our best to further develop our business partnership. We are glad to see you here, and I want to welcome you here again.

Heinz Fischer (via interpreter): Mr Prime Minister, I am very glad. Thank you for the warm words of welcome you have addressed to me and all the other Austrian guests. It is with pleasure that I recall our previous meetings. I remember the selection of the city to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, and how Sochi won over Salzburg, and we were a bit disappointed. The next day I received a telephone call from you, and you said: “Mr Fischer, don’t worry and don’t be sorry. Austria has hosted several Olympics. If the games are held in Sochi, I promise that we will involve the Austrian economy and use your experts; Austrian businesses will definitely take part in Olympic preparations.” And this is indeed what we see happening: We have very good contracts. If something else needs be done in Sochi, Austrians will be glad to help.

On the whole, I share your view that relations between Russia and Austria are developing very well, and we have a stable political partnership based on trust.

It is also of great importance that in 1968 we were among the first to sign an agreement on gas supplies. Today, 42 years later, it can be said that the deliveries have always been reliable. We have accumulated considerable experience and built up trust, and we feel that we are reliable partners in both political and economic relations.

Of course, Austria has recently experienced the same problems as many other countries. We felt the heaviest effects of the crisis in 2009, but in 2010 our economic development indicators improved. The European Commission is gradually raising forecasts for 2011, so it is obvious that our economic growth will be about 3% this year.

I’d like to say that unemployment is extremely low in Austria; in fact, it is the second lowest among the 27 EU member states, and we will have to work hard to keep it at this low level.