Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Dear Tarja, I am very glad to see you. Good afternoon.

I must say that, during the 11 years of your presidency, Russian-Finnish relations have strengthened significantly. Over that period bilateral trade increased five-fold, and Finland’s direct investment in Russia surged tenfold. We have also put a great deal of effort into infrastructure development, including railways, extended the lease on the Saimaa Channel, implemented joint production projects in many areas and have essentially seen trade recover to pre-crisis levels.

We recently marked the 20^th anniversary of one of our framework cooperation agreements. We have been making progress over this period, constantly strengthening interstate ties thanks to these framework agreements. So I would like to thank you for the years of cooperation and joint work. I greatly appreciate the contribution that you and your team have made to the development of Russian-Finnish relations. I am glad to see you here, welcome.

Tarja Halonen(via interpreter): Thank you very much. I would like to say that this friendship is mutual. And it is also true that during my 12 years in office, as president of Finland, we built up this friendship. We must also give credit to those who went before us, former presidents, those who led our countries during the Soviet era and later, because they also made every effort to strengthen cooperation and develop good-neighbourly relations. Ours too is a good story, because when you and I first talked over the phone, you were prime minister and I was Finland’s foreign minister. A great deal of time has elapsed since. I was just told that this visit to Russia is my 26^th or 27^th, as president. But Russian-Finnish contacts are not limited to meetings between political leaders and other officials. The Finnish and Russian peoples have also become friends: the Russian-Finnish border has been crossed 10 million times – while Finland’s population is just over 5 million. This is an important achievement. In fact, most of these people are Russian citizens who come to Finland. And considering our trade relations, which have been mentioned here, Finnish enterprises and companies also invest in the Russian economy. Over 80% of Russians who visit Finland have multiple entry visas, which means that they intend to come to Finland several times. They come for shopping and also to buy countryside property. This may not be the right time to say so, but Finns would also gladly buy property in Russia.

Apart from our mutual accomplishments in the economy, we have also gained a number of environmental victories. I have congratulated President Medvedev and Valentina Matviyenko on this.

The current president of the Council of the Baltic Sea States is Germany. Russia will take over the rotating presidency in the second half of the year. I wholeheartedly wish success to our cooperation for the good of the Baltic Sea and to the Baltic Sea Action Summit. Russia has accomplished a lot in this area and we consider it appropriate to speak about them.

Many different events have occurred in the world and in global policy, including in Russia and in Finland. I always say that I am happy to meet with our partners and colleagues with whom we can discuss issues openly and honestly in an atmosphere where we can ask any question, including about the situation in the country. We don’t always have to agree, although I must say that, surprisingly, we have similar opinions on many issues.

I would like to thank everyone for making this cooperation possible and to express hope that the future president and government of Finland will also hold constructive discussions and carry on positive cooperation with the president and government of Russia, and that they will undertake practical, cooperative projects to improve global affairs. We have here the translator who has attended these meetings before.

Vladimir Putin: You said that many Finns would like to buy property in Russia. Maybe you can set an example by buying something?

Tarja Halonen (speaking in Russia): Agreed.