President of China Hu Jintao (retranslated): Mr President,
First of all, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, I want to wish you a warm welcome to our country and say how happy we are to see you taking part also in the events marking Russia Day at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.
Mr President, your visit is a big event in our bilateral relations this year.
You made a very successful visit to Dalian yesterday. I am sure that your visit will give a big boost to further developing the strategic cooperation between our countries, expanding our multifaceted cooperation, and facilitating deeper strategic cooperation and partnership between China and Russia.
I am sure that your visit will have a big positive impact on intensifying our bilateral relations. Now, during these talks in expanded format, I am ready to continue our useful exchange of views on bilateral matters and other issues of mutual interest.
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr President, first of all, I want to thank you for the invitation to visit the People’s Republic of China.
As you just said, this visit has several aspects, each of which is important. Our bilateral talks today are one aspect, my visit to Dalian yesterday in connection with the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II was another aspect, and then there is my participation tomorrow in the events marking Russia Day at the Shanghai Expo.
We meet regularly, and indeed, this is our fifth meeting this year. These meetings will continue. These kinds of frequent contacts between leaders are in the interests of the Russian and Chinese peoples and help us to move forward in our relations, which have now reached a new level of strategic partnership and cooperation.
Following our talks we will sign a large package of agreements reflecting the multifaceted cooperation between our countries. I am sure that this visit will make its contribution to developing Russian-Chinese relations.