President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao and his wife welcomed Mr Putin and his wife in the square in front of the Great Hall of the People. The national anthems of both countries were played and a 21-gun salute was fired in honour of the Russian President. Mr Putin received the report of a company of the Honour Guards.
High-level bilateral talks began in a restricted format following the ceremony.
Mr Hu expressed high appraisal for the results of his last meeting with Mr Putin in Tashkent during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in June.
Mr Putin thanked Mr Hu for the invitation to visit China and noted that there is good potential for developing the relations between the two countries.