The President of Russia and King Abdullah II met in the Kremlin to discuss various aspects of Russian-Jordanian cooperation and topical issues on the international and regional agenda – particularly, the situation in Syria and the Middle East settlement.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Moscow.
Your Majesty, we met exactly one year ago, in January last year. You and I, as well as our colleagues are keeping in contact with each other.
Personal meetings are certainly always important. Today we will talk about bilateral relations and the situation in the region, but at the beginning of our meeting allow me to remind you that this year we celebrate 55 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations. I think we have every reason to hope that we will continue to strengthen mutual trust and cooperation.
Welcome!
King Abdullah II of Jordan (transcript of the speech in English): Mr President, thank you again for your kindness and your hospitality. I am always very delighted and warmed by the opportunity to see my dear brother.
And as you mentioned, this is an auspicious year marking the special relationship and the anniversary of the relationship of our two countries.
But equally important, based on our meeting this time last year, was the leadership that you showed as well as the joint cooperation between our two countries on bringing better days to Syria. Your directives a year ago have allowed, I think, much stronger Jordanian-Russian coordination, and we have been able to make good political grounds in southern Syria. This is due to your guidance and your vision of trying to solve the issues there as quickly as possible.
So I want to thank you and your colleagues for the very close interaction that we have had. I am sure that this year will be a better year. And also, I want to thank my brother, the President, for his dedication to work very hard to find a solution for both the Israelis and Palestinians and, hopefully, bring more hope to our region.
(In Russian) Thank you.