8 august 2008

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had several meetings with the leaders of the PRC and of the other countries

Participants:
The exchange of views on the economic cooperation took place in course of the meetings.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao:

Wen Jiabao: Good morning, Mr Putin!

I'm very glad to see you. I would like to start by saying a couple of words about your participation at the opening of the Beijing Olympics. We know that Russia is a great sporting nation. We hope that Russian sportsmen achieve big successes and great victories at the Beijing Olympics.

We also know you enjoy sports very much. We hope you'll enjoy your time here during the Beijing Olympics.

Mr. Putin, we are old friends. We have met six times during my six years as Premier. I think we will meet even more often because we have a mechanism of regular meetings between the heads of Government. This mechanism guarantees our annual meetings.

I hope that with our mutual efforts and cooperation between the Governments of Russia and China, we will be able to further the relations of strategic partnership and interaction between Russia and China.

Vladimir Putin: I would like to start by thanking you for the invitation to be present at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. I would like to congratulate you and all of our Chinese friends on the successful completion of preparatory works for the opening ceremony and the Olympic Games proper. It was a great and ambitious task. And most importantly, all these facilities will be used not only during the Olympics, but will further serve the people and will help solve social goals.

Wen Jiabao: We aim at sustainable development.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, certainly. Beijing has been given a new look and is going through a transformation - a great amount of money has been spent for this purpose, as it is the capital of the country. This was a very important and correct choice. My colleagues and I, and everybody who has arrived to see the opening of the Olympics, are all expecting an amazing spectacle. I know that the Chinese are great masters to stage breathtaking festivals. I am sure that tonight we will witness just such a great and spectacular event.

With regard to sporting successes, I think the most important thing is to have impartial judges and good conditions for athletes, and then they may show their best performance to their fans' delight.

Vladimir Putin also mentioned that there was an exchange of opinions about bilateral economic cooperation during the meeting; and during the year one more meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister would take place.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev as part of his visit to China.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Nazarbayev, I am very glad that I have this opportunity to meet with you at the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

First of all, I'd like to say that I am very pleased to see our good relations formed over the recent years continuing.

As you know, President Dmitry Medvedev's first international visit was to Kazakhstan. He has been there twice already. There will soon be another planned meeting at the level of heads of bordering regions.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: In the city of Pyatigorsk, isn't it?

Vladimir Putin: Yes.

High-level contacts are continuing very actively. And it reflects on the whole complex of our relations including, and above all, in the economy. Trade between the two countries stood at 16.5 billion last year. It is a very good figure. This year it increased almost 30%, 28.8 % to be exact. It is impressive, and shows that the prospects are very bright.

We are very glad to see these results. We had a prospective plan until 2008. Now we are actively working on the plan for our mutual activity for 2009-2010. I am sure our results will be even better.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: Thank you.

Mr Putin, this is our first meeting since you started at your new post. Yes, we communicate by phone. But I would like to have more high-level meetings with you as well.

In the last eight years we have created a sound legal basis for our relations, they have strengthened with every year, with every bilateral meeting, everything has been working smoothly both in economics and politics. I would like to thank you once more and express my deep respect for you, and assurances of close friendship. I wish you good luck in your difficult job. Especially now. Something is always happening, similar to what is going on in Tzhinvali today. We have to solve many problems. The economy demands close attention, as well as social issues, financial crises, and so on. Overall, the work never stops.

As far as our bilateral relations go, I think that positive dynamics will continue. I am thankful to you for continuity of the course, for good relations. On my part, I will do my best to make sure that Russia-Kazakhstan relations stay at the highest level.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, Mr Nazarbayev.

You have just mentioned the situation in South Ossetia. We are very sorry that such actions took place on the eve of the Olympics. It is a historic tradition to stop all wars during the Olympic Games. What we see here is the opposite: on the opening day of the Olympics the Georgian leadership launched aggressive actions against South Ossetia. As a matter of fact, they started a military operation using heavy armory, artillery, and recently even tanks. There are many casualties - wounded and killed, among them Russian peacekeepers. It is very sad, and brings up a lot of questions. And certainly it calls for response measures.

We would like the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States to come up with their assessment of these barbarous actions. All of us have to make an effort to stop the bloodshed.

Nursultan Nazarbayev: I agree with you. All of us in the CIS made the decision regarding the peacekeepers. Indeed, the Olympic movement is so peaceful, that peace is always established during the Games.

I think the Georgian leadership made the wrong step by not speaking up, by not letting anybody know about the escalation of the situation. It seems, though, that there is no alternative to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Vladimir Putin: I have already had an opportunity to speak with our Chinese partners, and with the US President. All of them were saying that nobody needs a war. I hope this appeal will be heard by the Georgian leadership too.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin conducted talks with Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Military Council of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China.

Jiang Zemin: I would like to point out that during the eight years of your presidency colossal changes happened in Russia. Nowadays Russia may rightfully be called the great power. The economy has noticeably improved. Certainly, your rich oil deposits are very important in this respect.

I would like to hear your comments.

Vladimir Putin: First of all, I would like to express my satisfaction that we were able to meet.

We remember very well that the agreement about good neighbourly relations between the Russian Federation and the Chinese Republic was signed in Moscow in 2001 with your participation in particular. Based on this agreement, we developed and implemented a plan of bilateral actions up to 2008.

Now we are working on the next plan, which would begin in 2009. This continuation in our relations is very important for our bilateral affairs.

Let me remind you that in 2001 the decision to choose Beijing as the capital of the 29th Olympic Games was made by the International Olympic Committee in Moscow. This was recognition of China's success in the economy, social issues, and sports.

Prime Minster Vladimir Putin met with President of Israel Shimon Peres:

Vladimir Putin: Mr. President, I am very glad to have the opportunity to meet with you again. I remember our past meetings, those very interesting and informative conversations.

First I would like to mention that we have special relations with your country, where more than a million of our compatriots live. Indeed, our international relations in the past years have been on the rise. Political contacts are strengthening; they are stable and regular at all levels - at the level of our Governments and Parliaments.

Trade and economic relations are growing. Today bilateral trade accounts for over 2.5 billion dollars. Generally speaking, the rates of growth are not bad, but we understand that this is not enough. And we will certainly continue our efforts to promote economic relations.

And certainly, using our special relations with Israel and your Arab neighbours we shall build up our efforts to reach a complete and fair resolution of the Middle Eastern crisis.

Shimon Peres: I would like to touch upon three points. First, allow me a very short compliment. I would like to state that President Putin, and now Prime Minister Putin, is one of the most noticeable and influential political figures of the modern age. He took upon himself the responsibility and had made a number of important decisions so that Russia could become a nation that is respected throughout the world.

I have been in politics for a long time, and, in my opinion, your actions have been some of the wisest examples of political behavior.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

During his visit to China Vladimir Putin met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Russian Prime Minister and French President discussed the situation in South Ossetia.

During his visit to China Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

The trade and economic cooperation of two countries and the visit of Mr Putin to this country that is planned at the begining of September were under discussion.