President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, it gives me great pleasure to see you.
Next year, we will be marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our nations. I am very happy to note that we have such warm relations. Now our goal is to ensure thatour trade and economic ties reflect the level of our relations.
Your nation is one of the largest producers of gas, which you deliver to Brazil and to Argentina; I know that our companies have already taken the first steps to engage in joint projects. Other Russian companies are showing interest in working in your country on the energy engineering market. This will certainly create new jobs and develop the economy.
In addition to everything else, you have a busy political calendar this year. I want to wish you success in the Presidential elections.
President of Bolivia EVO MORALES (retranslated): Thank you very much, Mr President.
First of all, I want to express my pleasure at your visit to Latin America. You have stayed in our region for more than three or four days, and that is vital. Your presence in Latin America is very important for us – for the region and for Bolivia.
In particular, I want to note the gas supply agreement that you signed with China. I would also like to express satisfaction with your policy regarding the Baltic Sea. I support your actionsin various ways in sustaining sovereignty and promoting it throughout the world.
I also want to mention that, indeed, we have already started work at the Azero gas field with Gazprom. Now we expect that Rosneft will enter our market; we expect to deepen our relations with that company as well. We give particular importance to investment agreements and investment cooperation with Rosneft. Russia’s presence in our market is very important.
Our country has been developing successfully since nationalising the oil and gas sector. We are no longer a nation that is afraid of the world around us. Nationalisation has freed us economically. We welcome foreign investment in our economy in various ways.
We would like to broaden cooperation with Russian companies, transferring it to other areas, so that we are not just talking about oil and gas production, but joint projects in other areas as well, particularly the mining industry and technology transfers. We would like to know how we could use Russian loans and increase Russia’s presence in our nation in the technology sector.
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