President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Federal Chancellor,
It seems that we have only just parted ways. Fifteen hours ago, we were at the reception in Germany, honouring the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It has turned into a symbol of European unity, and I hope that in that same spirit, we will continue to develop relations between all European nations, and of course, between Austria and the Russian Federation.
Quite a bit has been done in recent years. We have been able to intensify our trade cooperation significantly, although right now, it has decreased somewhat because of the crisis. But overall, we are satisfied, because our trade turnover can now be measured in billions of dollars, and we need to reinforce these positive achievements. In order to do this, we have a whole range of economic projects, which we will discuss today. And later, you will continue discussing these issues with our colleagues from the Cabinet.
We also want to discuss humanitarian issues. We have a whole range of ideas that could be developed.
I would like to sincerely welcome you. I hope that you had a chance to rest and recuperate after the celebrations in Berlin, and that this will help us to have productive talks here in Moscow.
Federal Chancellor of Austria Werner Faymann (as translated into Russian): Thank you very much for your invitation. I am glad that we were able to first meet each other yesterday. It was a very interesting event, which left a lasting impression. It had great significance for Europe and, as you emphasised, for democratic development in Europe, as well as Berlin’s unity. Even today, many are still calling it a miracle.
Thank you very much for the good relations that have existed between Austria and Russia over the last years, first and foremost, in regard to the economy – we are seeing some very active interchange between our nations. Our list of problems is far shorter than our list of successes and factors that unite us, and it is very pleasant that these uniting factors are prevailing. Thank you very much for the invitation. There are many issues that unite us, but first of all, these are issues relating to energy security.
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