Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen,

I am very glad to see you at a SCO meeting to share views on the development of bilateral relations.

We met many times in Davos and in other cities and countries. I am delighted now to see you in Russia, in St Petersburg.

I see with satisfaction that we have regained our pre-crisis trade level, though it is still quite modest for countries like Pakistan and Russia. Pakistan is our major trade and economic partner and an important partner in South Asia and the Muslim world. I am very glad to see you today and to have a chance to discuss our bilateral relations.

Yousuf Raza Gilani (via interpreter): Thank you, Mr Prime Minister. This is our fourth meeting. I am enjoying my trip to the beautiful city of St Petersburg, which is your native city. St Petersburg and Karachi, where I was born, are sister cities and major economic centres.

We have had a wonderful meeting today. As observers, we are impressed by the impetus you gave the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. You can see our dedication to relations with it in the fact that today is a holiday for us. We have received your congratulatory message, and we are spending this holiday in Russia. I had dinner with several Pakistani nationals last night in honour of the holiday.

We are really eager to improve relations with Russia. We are already cooperating in defence and other fields. As you rightly remarked, we should step up our security and economic cooperation. We need to expand contacts as well as infrastructure and energy cooperation within the SCO format. I greatly appreciate your participation in the CASA-1000 megaproject. I think it is one of our countries' best projects. Your announcement of aid was greatly welcomed in Pakistan. We would like to build up our cooperation in energy and electricity.