Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends, I am very pleased to welcome you to the building of the Government of the Russian Federation in Moscow. Good afternoon!

At the moment, the volume of our trade in absolute terms amounts to only a trickle. But I hope that the documents and the declaration that we signed today will help contribute to this, and that your visit will provide an impetus to the expansion of our trade and our economic relations.

In addressing practical concerns in our bilateral relations, the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation should play an important role. I hope that it will work effectively. And I believe it would be most promising for us now to focus our attention on investment cooperation.

Russian companies are interested in working in the most promising areas: hydro-power, telecommunications, communications, mining and processing of mineral resources. If major projects are initiated, the volume of Russian investment in the Laotian economy could increase substantially.

More than 7,000 Laotian students are enrolled in Russian universities. We will continue to pursue these programmes in order to help your country create a good human resource capacity. We know you, Mr President, as a friend of our country, a friend of Russia. We are very glad to see you. Welcome!

Choummaly Sayasone (via interpreter): Mr Prime Minister, first of all I would like to express my gratitude and thank you for this meeting. I would like to say that I am very pleased to visit Russia. We consider Russia our old, long-time friend. In the past, the Soviet people have provided invaluable assistance to the Laotian people in facilitating the liberation of our country, and our cooperation continues today.

Today, Mr Prime Minister, we are following the developments in Russia closely – we see how Russia is developing and how it manages to achieve its development objectives. I wanted to say that in the course of your meeting with the Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in St Petersburg, the idea was voiced to sign a declaration of strategic partnership between Asian Pacific countries. And this declaration was signed at today's meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

We have high expectations for this visit. We believe that this could be an historic event for our country. And one of the factors that contribute to the importance of this visit is the fact that we have signed a declaration of partnership in the Pacific Rim. In the eyes of the Laotian people, this improves the atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding between Russia and Laos.