President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, colleagues,
I am very pleased to use our stay in Osaka to talk about our bilateral relations.
I would like to emphasise once again that France is one of our main foreign partners. We have gained much experience in constructive cooperation in many areas. Of course, we are aware of the problems and we discuss them. In fact, we were fairly active even during our working lunch in discussing some international issues that are definitely of mutual interest. And we can talk about all these issues in a calm atmosphere. I am very grateful that you have found the time for this meeting. Thank you.
President of France Emmanuel Macron (retranslated): Thank you very much, Mr President, dear Vladimir.
I am happy that we have another opportunity to exchange opinions, primarily on our bilateral agenda, which has received new impetus after your visit to Versailles and my visit to St Petersburg.
There are matters and issues on which we must make progress in the next few weeks. I hope we will discuss them. Our foreign and defence ministers will have an important meeting in the “two-plus-two” format in a few weeks.
This is also a chance to discuss regional issues. Our countries are members of the UN Security Council. I believe it is important to discuss, as we already have, the developments in Ukraine, which we are monitoring within the Minsk process. A meeting is scheduled to take place in July between political advisors within the Normandy format. Of course, today we will also touch on developments in Iran and in Syria. We have a lot of work to do together.
I know that cooperation between our countries, members of the UN Security Council, is of the utmost importance in today’s global situation. And I know that liberal democracies still have a lot to do and add in this modern, unpredictable world. This is not the only development model, but a model that is still alive and has effect. I believe that a dialogue between liberal democracies and the countries that consider themselves among them will allow us to build and achieve many things. This is why I believe our discussion will be productive.
Vladimir Putin: We will have time for a discussion. There is always potential; nothing disappears completely, nothing dies; one form turns into another, and everything is constantly developing.
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