While at the negotiation table, Mr Putin and Mr Bongo, who arrived in Moscow the day before on his first official visit, discussed the prospects of bilateral trade and economic partnership and a number of international problems. This was the first Russian-Gabonese summit since bilateral diplomatic relations had been established.
The Parties confirmed that they shared the United Nations Charter principles, and regarded the United Nations and its Security Council as the principal agencies of the contemporary world order.
The Russian and Gabonese Presidents summarised their negotiations in a joint statement. The two countries’ leaders stressed in this document that, in case UN member countries came to a general accord on the Security Council reform, it was important to make the Council geographically representative in the best possible way, realising that both industrially developed and influential developing countries would join the Council as its new members.
As Mr Putin and Mr Bongo also acknowledged, “stabilisation of the situation in Central Africa, especially in the Great Lakes region, depends on strict compliance of all Parties with the premises of the Lusaka Agreement and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”
After the negotiations, Mr Putin said that Russian policy aimed at friendly contacts with all countries of the world, including those in Africa.