President Vladimir Putin: Dear Mr Prime Minister, allow me to give you my warmest greetings. I am very pleased that our regular contacts are continuing. This gives us the chance to check how the situation stands in the development of our relations, which, without any exaggeration, really are strategic in nature and act for the benefit of both our peoples.
It would be a hard task even to list all the areas of our cooperation that are developing successfully. Our specialists working at expert level are in the process of completing a list of cooperation priorities. Preparations are also underway for the next session of the Intergovernmental Commission. We await your visit to Moscow.
Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh (translated from Russian): Mr President, it gives me genuine pleasure to meet with you, the President of a country with which India shares longstanding and friendly relations. Our work together is indeed developing most actively, in the spirit of strategic relations. I am looking forward to my upcoming visit to Moscow and am also looking forward to the visit to our country by the Russian Prime Minister and the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, in order to settle all the questions that need to be discussed before my visit to Moscow.
I would also like to thank you, Mr President, for your support for India in its bid to become one of the possible new permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Furthermore, I would like to thank you for giving our country observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
It is worth noting how our cooperation is developing in the area of defence technology, especially in building aircraft. I think that many questions in this area will be discussed during the Russian Defence Minister’s visit to India.