Transcript of the start of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr President, my dear friend,

I'm very pleased to see you in Moscow. Our countries are linked by long-standing friendship and invariably good relations. The views of our countries on the developments in the region and the rest of the world are often very close, at times practically identical.

Regrettably, our trade went down a bit last year. On the whole, 2008 was a successful year, but there is nonetheless a certain reduction, and subjects worth discussing in this context. Although the structure of trade requires improvement, its present content corresponds to the interests of our countries. We supply you with grain and machine equipment, while you are exporting agricultural products, seafood, and everything that is in demand in the Russian market to us.

You know that we have responded at your request to the grave events that your country encountered during the flooding last year. Our assistance was not big but arrived in time. This is how friends should always act.

Though these are one-time actions, it goes without saying that we should think about developing systematic cooperation - first and foremost, in the commercial and economic sphere.

We are very glad to see you, Mr President.

Ali Abdullah Saleh (as translated): Thank you very much, Mr Prime Minister. I am very happy to be in Moscow for a third time, and am glad to have an opportunity to see you.

Our previous talks and conversations with you have been positive and successful. We are linked with Moscow by historically good relations, and we plan to continue them. Needless to say, this applies to our trade and economic cooperation, military-technical cooperation, and the cultural sphere. We completely rely on Russian supplies.

I also fully agree with you, Your Excellency, that the positions of our countries on topical regional and international issues practically coincide. This is primarily manifest in the fight against terror.

During this visit to Moscow, we plan to discuss with the Russian leaders the prospects of streamlining our trade, including in the oil and gas industry.

All previous purchases were successful. This primarily applies to the military-technical sphere, particularly to aircraft.