Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr President, dear friends,

I am happy to welcome you to Moscow once again. Regional relations and the general situation in the region have experienced many changes. We are following this process very closely. Governments have changed hands in Israel. I have recently spoken with Mr Netanyahu over the phone.

I very much hope that work to attain a peace settlement will continue regardless of any difficulties in foreign and domestic policy.

We must consider strengthening our bilateral economic ties and expanding cultural relations. Here, I am referring to the training of specialists for the Palestinian National Authority at Russian colleges and universities and other educational establishments.

We must determine making the Palestinian National Authority's security forces more effective. All this will be discussed during our April 7 negotiations.

We are very happy to see you. Welcome to Moscow, Mr President.

Makhmoud Abbas (As translated): Thank you very much, Your Excellency.

We are very happy to be in Moscow and to have this opportunity to meet with you. There are, undoubtedly, many issues which we would like to discuss with you.

First of all, I would like to thank you for Russia's humanitarian and technical assistance to the Palestinian nation and for its assistance in training national Palestinian specialists.

There is no doubting the fact that such assistance is yielding its results. Our security forces, which are successfully accomplishing their tasks, are a clear example. Although our security forces have successfully passed the test over the past 18 months, they must be strengthened even further.

There is yet another important issue, namely, inter-Palestinian dialogue currently underway in Cairo. Unfortunately, such dialogue has not yet provided the desired results. Nevertheless, we hope that such results will be attained.