President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr President, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you on the sidelines of our traditional four-party meetings to discuss Russian-Afghan cooperation, our bilateral projects, following on from the discussions we just had in the four-party format, and to talk about regional security too, of course.
As I said just before at the news conference, the situation in our region ultimately depends on the regional powers themselves, and I think this is the direction we should work in and should be the main basis for the cooperation we develop.
Naturally, we are ready to build up our cooperation with Afghanistan in the various economic sectors, in continuing our political dialogue and dialogue on security, and developing our humanitarian ties.
President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai: Yes, Mr President, I fully share those views with you, and I’m glad we’re having this meeting here today. Afghanistan is satisfied with the expansion of relations with Russia and the way it has been handled on both sides is a matter of happiness for us. Afghanistan finds it only natural to engage in broader economic and political relations with Russia.
We think this is a natural road that we should follow.