President Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister, allow me once again to give you my warmest greetings. I am very pleased to see you and to have the opportunity during this summit to discuss with you our bilateral relations, our cooperation, both economic and political, and the complex issues related to the possible conclusion of a peace treaty. We are ready to discuss all issues, and we sense the willingness to work too on the Japanese side in the talks we have had with Japan.
Shinzo Abe (simultaneous translation): We met during the APEC summit in Hanoi and I am very pleased to see you again here at the G8 summit. I would like to look over what the Japanese-Russian action programme has accomplished in general and hold a frank exchange of views on developing our bilateral relations further.
The Japanese-Russian action programme encompasses six main points. First is to deepen our political dialogue, and in this respect we have been consistently developing our cooperation – above all, [Russian Prime Minister] Mr Fradkov recently visited Japan and Mr Aso, our foreign minister, visited Russia.
As for our cooperation on the international stage, we are working actively together on issues such as North Korea and Iran, including at this summit.