Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Prime Minister, I am sincerely glad to see you again. Just recently, we met in Belgium. Your current visit to our country is private, but it is no less important, and it gives us the opportunity to discuss our bilateral agenda.

Recently, we have advanced the level of our relations. This concerns our relations in energy sector (I know that you have met with Gazprom management), as well as business relations between our states in general. We are expecting a group of businesspeople to visit our country, as we agreed. Thus, I hope that your visit will be helpful and productive.

Prime Minister of Belgium Yves Leterme (retranslated): Thank you very much. Thank you for your welcome and for your hospitality. It is always a pleasure to meet with you.

I recall the EU-Russia summit and your visit to Belgium. We had the opportunity to make progress on a whole set of important issues, including energy. The documents signed in our presence are starting to take concrete shape. Belgium plays an increasingly important role with regard to the logistics of international gas trade, becoming a kind of international gas hub.

This morning, I had breakfast with representatives of Belgian business circles, who are very interested in expanding their operations in Russia. As you know, a European summit meeting is coming up in a few weeks, which will focus on energy issues. We believe that our energy policy can be sound and reliable only if we take into account our very important partner, Russia.

As you have justly emphasised, a large investment, trade and economic mission consisting of Belgian business people and headed by the Crown Prince will be visiting Russia this spring. We have already discussed this in Brussels. It is a new opportunity to broaden Russian-Belgian economic cooperation and interaction. I am certain and sincerely believe that it will provide new opportunities for our businesspeople to expand their cooperation.

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