Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Hu Jintao: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Russia for its invaluable and selfless assistance during the destructive earthquake in the Sichuan Province.
Your help reflexes a deep friendship between the Russian and Chinese people, and demonstrates a high level of our strategic partnership and cooperation.

Only two days ago our children from the regions that suffered an earthquake came back home. These children lived in Russia. This 20-day trip gave them unforgettable impressions. This event has great value for strengthening the friendship between our two peoples.

I'm ready, Mr Prime Minister, for our discussion on bilateral and other issues.

I know that Premier Wen Jiabao has already had detailed discussions with you on trade and economic cooperation. Here I will not repeat myself. We know you have a very busy schedule. I'm ready to listen to your opinions.

Vladimir Putin: First of all, I would like to say that in all the previous years of working together we have established friendly relations and I'm very pleased to meet with you. I wish to congratulate you on such a successful and entertaining opening of the Olympic Games.

We all shall be expecting successes of athletes from China, Russia and other countries. I'm sure that millions of fans all over the planet will be pleased with their achievements.

Regarding our help during the earthquake, we are sure that China with its rapid rate of economic development and impressive social achievements would be able to overcome all the problems by itself.

Our help was sincere for the sake of our friendship and good-neighbourly relations. We will continue to support you in such difficult situations. We are quite sure that if the situation was reversed we would receive help from our Chinese friends as well.

That is the only way for good neighbours, helping each other.