President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Dear Mr State Council Premier!
I would like to welcome you to the Kremlin. I know that today you have already conducted intense negotiations that culminated in the signing of certain documents. All of this constitutes evidence of the very active ties that bind our country and the People's Republic of China. And these results certainly mark a new chapter in the development of our relations.
You signed many important documents. I am confident that this will result in the implementation of existing agreements and, of course, this reflects the sustainable nature of our contacts over the past year. We met with President of China Mr Hu Jintao three times and we will soon meet for a fourth in Lima, a frequency which is a good measure of very active cooperation.
And I certainly am confident that we can continue to exchange opinions. This is extremely important for our country, especially when there are a variety of existing issues and new, actively developing ones related to the financial and economic crisis. In these circumstances strategic relations between Russia and China are particularly important and we very much appreciate them.
And in my opinion the results that have been achieved are very good –as I understand it, we are hoping that our trade will approach 50 billion dollars by the end of 2008, and this figure speaks for itself.
State Council Premier of China Wen Jiabao: Dear Mr President!
Let me first of all convey warm greetings from President Hu Jintao.
As you just said, the senior leaders of our countries support increasing their contacts. You've already met three times with President Hu Jintao. During your visit to China in May I was in regions affected by natural disasters and was unfortunately not able to meet with you. I am very pleased to meet with you here in the Kremlin today.
In light of the current changes in the international political and economic situation our friendship, the friendship between China and Russia, and our cooperation is very important. Not only the fundamental interests of our two peoples but also peace and stability in our region and the world depend on it.
The Chinese-Russian strategic partnership and cooperation has come a long way in the 12 years of its existence. Life has demonstrated that our relationship and our partnership have withstood the test of time.
Stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world depend on our countries, countries which share the longest border in the world.