President Vladimir Putin: Mr President, I am very glad to meet you personally after our telephone conversation in which I congratulated you on your election as president of the country. Our relations with Indonesia are long-standing and very deep – next year we will be celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. A good legal basis exists for our joint efforts. Political dialogue is also proceeding well: I am particularly pleased – I want to stress it once again – to make your acquaintance, Mr President, and talk of priorities and future prospects of our bilateral development.
Susilo Yudhoyono: Your Excellency, it is a great honour for me, too, to meet you here and discuss matters concerning our relations. It was a pleasure for me to receive over the telephone your congratulations and assurance of an intention further to develop Russian-Indonesian relations. Considerable progress has already been achieved in relations between Russia and Indonesia, including during the stay in office of my predecessor, Megawati Sukarnoputri. I consider it my duty to carry on this development in a constructive key.
Vladimir Putin: You were a member of her cabinet. So I know that you also took part in building these relations.
Susilo Yudhoyono: Quite right, Your Excellency. And now I would like to exert every effort to promote our relations both in the economic and non-economic fields.