Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Jyrki Katainen (via interpreter): Welcome to Helsinki. Mr Prime Minister, I am very glad to see you in Finland. The building where we are meeting is the Government Banquet Hall, or Smolna in Finnish. Many interesting events are associated with this building and this place. Initially, it was built for the Inspector General of the Finnish Army, and then it housed the University of Helsinki (the current tenant is the Aleksanteri Institute of the University). Later it was used as the residence of the Governor General, and then the headquarters of the Red faction in Finland’s civil war. Marshal Mannerheim later lived in the house. And then it became the residence of the Foreign Minister of Finland. In the 1960s, the Government decided to use the building as banqueting premises.

Dmitry Medvedev: An interesting story. At the least, it has more things that bring us together than the place where we met the time before last – I mean the Republic of Laos. There were few places where we could share such historical reminiscences. But it was warm there, and we are heading for Christmas, as you rightly pointed out. This is an opportunity for sharing our impressions about the development of our relationship, investment projects, and trade and economic ties – I believe that we are doing well on all of these counts.

Since there are several other interesting visits planned, I think we should get to work.

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Following the one-on-one meeting between Dmitry Medvedev and Jyrki Katainen, Russian-Finnish bilateral talks continued in an expanded format.