Vladimir Putin: Mr President and colleagues,

I am very happy to greet you here today. I know that the Cuban delegation's agenda is very packed and productive.

We are very glad that our dialogue has recently intensified at top political level. Mr Castro, I am speaking of top-level visits, namely, the Russian President's visit to Cuba and your visit to Russia. Most importantly, economic contacts have also received boost.

I hope very much that various agreements reached during your visit will be implemented in the near future. I am speaking of credit and financial agreements and those in the sphere of industrial production. This includes hydrocarbons, telecommunications, GLONASS, shipbuilding and engineering. We are very happy to have reached all these agreements.

Welcome to Russia, Mr President.

Raul Castro (as translated): Thank you very much. I would like to greet everyone present. Indeed, the last few days have been extremely positive. The talks were held in a very constructive atmosphere. We have managed to coordinate virtually all aspects. The solution of previously unsolved problems is linked with the revival and development of bilateral trade relations. We are searching for new forms of cooperation. Since your visit to Cuba in 2000, our relations have entered a new and more advanced stage.

We have taken several steps during President Dmitry Medvedev's recent visit to Cuba. Both chairmen of the Trade and Economic Cooperation Commission, Igor Sechin and Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, have also been working hard. All visits by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in the last six months have been very fruitful. In our opinion, we should continue to work just as intensively after the current visit, when a number of agreements were signed. Most importantly, we should now realise and implement them.