Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,
It is a pleasure to meet with you. Our work started yesterday, but I am glad to have the opportunity to hold a separate meeting with you during the summit. We met in Istanbul recently and took part in a very good event: the completion of the Turk Stream gas pipeline’s offshore section. Turkey once again reaffirmed that it conducts an independent foreign policy and is our reliable partner. This benefits our national economies as well as the energy security of all Europe.
We have many areas of cooperation, and our mutual trade has been showing stable growth, both last year and this year.
I am very glad to see you and exchange opinions on how our cooperation is progressing. I also appreciate the fact that our meeting in Istanbul gave an impetus, through the President’s efforts, to seeking solutions to issues that need resolving.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (retranslated): I would like to thank my dear friend specifically. We were especially pleased to be meeting you on the sidelines of G20 in Buenos Aires.
We have had a chance to speak about vital issues, and during those very vital contacts our colleagues have had the chance to get together as well.
Our contacts about the Turk Stream are of utmost importance.
And the summit we held in Istanbul with the participation of all parties about Idlib has been very important. But I believe that there are more steps that we need to take. And I think that it will be good to have another meeting, perhaps in a narrower scope, about Idlib.
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