The President also gave a positive assessment of the conference of Russian and German partner cities taking part in Krasnodar, in which Mr Gabriel took part.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Minister, colleagues,
It is a great pleasure to see you here in Moscow.
I know that you were in Krasnodar yesterday and did a lot of work on cooperation between Russian and German cities and regions. I must say that at the state level, our relations are developing too, despite the difficulties we know. Our bilateral trade is on the rise and showed a significant value for the first time this year, posting an increase for the first quarter.
There are other positive trends too. We are pleased to see this and we must now consolidate these results. I hope that your visit will contribute to this.
Germany is getting ready to host the G20 summit, this big event. We share the priorities that Germany has chosen and will do all within our means to implement the agreements that I am sure will come out of this work together.
German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (retranslated): Mr President, colleagues,
It is a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to have this chance to see you again.
Yesterday, we had a very impressive event in Krasnodar. It was impressive indeed to see the representatives of the municipalities and regions taking part.
We received the stormiest applause when we said that no matter what the political differences, we must bring people together and not divide them. Following this event, we had a chance to discuss all of the political issues.
The G20 summit will indeed be a big event and we hope that it will offer the possibility for a meeting between yourself and the US President on the sidelines.
We hope to be able to reach joint agreements on climate change issues. We place great hope on the strength of a dialogue between the 20 countries taking part. In short, we have a lot of work ahead.
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