This is Sooronbay Jeenbekov's first foreign visit since taking office on November 24, 2017.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Jeenbekov, friends,
We are very pleased to welcome you in Moscow and would like once more – this time in person – to congratulate you on your convincing win in the presidential election.
President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov: Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: You are a man of great experience. You recently led the government and played a direct role in mapping out all our strategic plans for cooperation between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
With your direct involvement, Kyrgyzstan became a full-fledged member of our main economic integration association [EAEU], and I would like to note that this has resulted in considerable growth in Kyrgyzstan's trade with the union's member states.
In terms of bilateral trade, after a small decline last year, this year has seen 32 percent growth in the first three quarters, and deliveries of your food products have increased 2.2 times.
These are very good indicators. I am confident that our relations in the economic sphere will continue to advance, as well as in the security sphere. Together we will take part in the CSTO summit tomorrow.
In general, our relations are expanding across all areas, and I am very pleased that, as head of state, your first visit is to Russia, and we now have the opportunity to discuss further prospects for promoting bilateral relations and our joint work at international organisations.
Sooronbay Jeenbekov: Mr President,
Thank you very much for your warm and heartfelt words. Allow me to express my sincere gratitude for the invitation to visit the Russian Federation.
For me, the fact that my first visit as president is to Moscow is deeply symbolic. This is the way it should be. It means that we, the Kyrgyz Republic, are firmly committed to strengthening our relations, alliance and strategic partnership.
I want to thank you once again for your personal understanding of matters relating to Kyrgyzstani-Russian relations. For my part, I will do my best to ensure that our alliance and strategic partnership get stronger and continue to improve and expand.
This year marks 25 years of our diplomatic relations. Russia and Kyrgyzstan have gone through a multitude of tests and trials during this period.
We had two revolutions. During the most recent one in 2010 we faced the threat of losing our state. We owe our ability to overcome all this, restore peace and stability, and get back on a sustainable development track to our multi-ethnic people, its wisdom and tenacity, as well as our senior government officials led by Almazbek Atambayev.
Russia and you personally deserve credit for this as well. We, the people of Kyrgyzstan, greatly value Russia’s assistance and support, we will always be grateful for it, and Russia will always be the main focus of our policy. We will continue to work hard towards this end.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you.
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