Taking part in the meeting from the Russian side were Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Russia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of China Andrei Denisov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, and Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Alexander Fomin.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, colleagues, allow me to heartily welcome you to Moscow.
We have just recently had a meeting with your representative delegation headed by Chairman Xi Jinping in Turkey, on the sidelines of the G20 summit. It was a pleasure to learn that everything we have agreed on with Mr Xi is moving ahead and we are making progress, in military cooperation as well.
We have noted on numerous occasions that the world is not becoming any calmer, and the joint efforts of China and Russia in all these areas, including the military one, are a serious stabilising factor in world affairs.
We are set to continue both our military cooperation and our joint efforts in the military-technical area.
We are happy to see you. Welcome.
Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China Xu Qiliang (retranslated): Mr President, I am very grateful to you for finding the time to meet with my colleagues and me.
I would like to begin by conveying best wishes on behalf of the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Comrade Xi Jinping. Prior to my trip to Moscow, I came up to him and he told me to convey his best wishes to you.
We also know that on October 31, a Russian plane crashed in Egypt as a result of a terrorist act, therefore I would like to use this opportunity to express on behalf of the Chinese people and the People’s Liberation Army of China our sincere condolences to the victims’ families.
We denounce these inhuman terrorist acts.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
Xu Qiliang: This time I have come to Russia on an official visit at the invitation of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. I will be taking part in the 20th session of the Russian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation. The main goal of my trip is to implement the important agreements you developed together with Chairman Xi Jinping on the basis of the principles of mutual benefit: to further promote military and military-technical cooperation between our countries to help these relations to enter a new stage in their development.
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