The President received letters of credence from the new ambassadors of Djibouti, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Poland, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ghana, Vietnam, the United States of America, Zambia, Turkey, Tanzania, Hungary, Peru, Nicaragua and Uzbekistan.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to congratulate you on the start of your important diplomatic missions in Russia. I wish you success and hope that your work will help to develop bilateral relations and cooperation in all different areas between Russia and your countries.
Friends, as you know, a number of big international events have taken place recently, in which Russia played a very active part. I am referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s summit in Beijing and the Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, as well as the BRICS leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. We also had useful bilateral contacts with various countries’ leaders, including leaders of some of the countries you represent.
Our work together took place in a constructive spirit and produced good results. We concentrated in particular on how to stabilise the global economy, ensure sustained growth and create conditions for building up broad-based and multifaceted international cooperation. The agreements reached in Brisbane, including on launching the global infrastructure initiative, establishing the global infrastructure hub, tackling unemployment and reforming international economic institutions, will all help to resolve the financial and economic problems before us today.
We take the view that development of trade and economic ties within APEC should aim to create organisations that will complement the cooperation mechanisms already in place and not divide participating countries but, on the contrary, help us to unite in a common effort.
In this respect, I particularly want to note Russia’s growing economic cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region countries and say that this is long-term, strategic cooperation. We take the view that this will help to develop parts of Russia, such as Siberia and the Far East.
At the same time, we are equally interested in developing our cooperation with both the East and the West. This is the logic at the foundation of the Eurasian Economic Union, which will start its work on January 1, 2015. Our strategic goal remains unchanged: to eventually create a single economic and humanitarian space from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Ladies and gentlemen, the heads of 15 diplomatic missions are here today, and in accordance with tradition, I would like to say a few words about Russia’s relations with each of your countries.
Russia seeks to continue developing its relations with the Republic of Djibouti and is open to cooperation in international affairs and building up contacts in economic and other areas in the interest of strengthening peace and stability on the Horn of Africa.
We value our friendly relations with the Central African Republic. Together with the international community we will continue to assist the transitional government’s efforts to reach political and inter-faith harmony and normalise the difficult humanitarian situation.
We are building up our relations with Eritrea. We share similar approaches towards current issues on the international and regional agendas and seek to develop our trade and economic ties.
We share many centuries of common history with the Republic of Poland. We need to work hard now to take our relations to a new level. I am sure that we can resolve any challenges if we act in a spirit of mutual respect and pragmatism.
We have friendly relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, one of our neighbours. It is in both countries’ interests to expand our political ties, trade and economic cooperation and will help to strengthen regional security and stability.
Our relations with the Republic of Ghana continue to develop in traditionally constructive spirit. We want to continue our coordinated work in the UN and other international forums. We will continue to help in training professionals for various sectors of Ghana’s economy.
We share longstanding traditions of friendship and cooperation with Vietnam. Strengthening our strategic partnership is fully in the long-term interests of both countries. We are intensifying our cooperation in the energy sector, including peaceful nuclear energy and the oil and gas sector. We are working on a free trade agreement between the Customs Union and Vietnam. I had a constructive conversation with President of Vietnam Truong Tan Sang at the APEC summit, and next week we look forward to the visit of General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.
We take the view that Russia and the United States of America bear special responsibility for maintaining international security and stability and combating global threats and challenges. We are ready for practical cooperation with our American partners in all different areas, based on the principles of respect for each other’s interests, equality and non-intervention in domestic affairs.
We recently marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Zambia. We seek to continue developing our bilateral cooperation, including our traditional assistance in training professionals for your country. We will continue to coordinate our positions on the regional and international agendas.
We have reached a new level in our relations with Turkey and our ties could be characterised as strategic in areas such as energy. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and I have organised close collaboration. We hope that the Cooperation Council’s summit in December will give us the occasion to outline new goals for continued dynamic progress.
We wish to develop our traditionally friendly ties with Tanzania, strengthen our cooperation on the international stage, and expand our trade and economic relations. We welcome Tanzania’s active role in resolving the African continent’s problems.
We see Hungary as one of our most important political and economic partners and our relations are based on a rich history and the mutual respect between our peoples. We share the Hungarian government’s desire to build up constructive dialogue and carry out big investment projects together.
Peru is a promising partner for Russia in Latin America, with which we have a tradition of friendly relations and mutual trust. President Ollanta Humala’s official visit at the start of November – the first in our 140 years of contacts and 45 years of diplomatic relations – gave a big boost to developing our cooperation, especially in trade and the economy, investment, and military technology cooperation.
Our relations with Nicaragua are based on solid and trusting ties that have stood the test of time. Our current political dialogue and close positions on important issues on the international agenda provide solid support for these ties. At my meeting with President Daniel Ortega in Managua in July, we outlined ways to step up our cooperation, and we value Mr Ortega’s personal contribution to developing our bilateral ties.
This year, we will celebrate an important date in Russian-Uzbekistani relations – the 10th anniversary of the Agreement on Strategic Partnership. Over this time we have achieved major results in practically all areas of our bilateral cooperation. I plan to visit Tashkent in December at the invitation of President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. This visit will certainly help to take our bilateral relations further and will strengthen stability in the Central Asian region.
Ladies and gentlemen, Russia values good relations with each of the countries that you represent.
It is our hope that your work in Moscow will be as effective and productive as possible. You can count on the Russian authorities’ help and assistance and that of our ministries and agencies and the broader Russian civic society and business community.
Once again, I congratulate you on the start of your work and wish you success.
Thank you.