President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Ms Federal Chancellor, dear Angela, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to Sochi.
This is our third meeting this year. This is a fine venue for our meeting, and I think we will have the opportunity of discussing all of the different issues of concern to our countries.
This is not an easy time. Various changes are taking place on the market. But I want to start our talks with a piece of positive news that I was very pleased to learn today, namely, that the German economy is now on the rebound. This is without question the result of the consistent action taken by the German Government.
We are also working hard on getting our economy out of recession, and we have already achieved some results. I think that we need to reflect on how to build up our bilateral strategic and economic ties in such a way as to help our economies, and thus our peoples, recover from the consequences of this serious global crisis and emerge stronger and better prepared than ever.
Of course, I also propose that we discuss international and regional issues, and simply take a walk and discuss current matters.
Welcome!
Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel (as translated into Russian): Thank you very much for the welcome. We saw each other recently in Munich and held very intensive talks. I am pleased to have this chance to meet again today. I think the economic situation will naturally be one of the subjects on our agenda.
We were very pleased to hear yesterday that the German economy is slowly starting to grow again. I believe that we should make use of the opportunities the crisis offers to develop German-Russian economic relations.
Of course, we will also discuss preparations for international events – the G20 summit, examine international issues, the international situation, and discuss the economic situation in Russia.
I want to thank you for this chance to meet here, in such a pleasant environment, in summertime Sochi. Thank you once more for the very warm welcome.
<…>