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On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander Novak and Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Special Presidential Representative for Financial and Economic Cooperation with BRICS States and Interaction with the New Development Bank Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Russian Association of Fertiliser Producers Andrei Guryev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev, Rosneft CEO and Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin, and Chairman of the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism, Chairman of the State Development Corporation VEB.RF and member of the BRICS Business Council Igor Shuvalov.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, esteemed friend,

Chinese comrades and friends,

I extend a warm welcome to all of you here in Russia, particularly in the Republic of Tatarstan, in Kazan, the capital of the Republic. This region is distinctive, fascinating, and rapidly developing within our nation. The people of this region, known for their industriousness and talent, can indeed take pride in their significant achievements and developmental progress.

I would like to extend my personal congratulations once again to you, my dear friend, to all our Chinese friends, and to the amicable Chinese people, on the recently celebrated anniversaries. I refer to the 75^th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries.

Over the past 75 years, Russian-Chinese relations have attained the level of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation. We can assert with complete confidence that these relations have become a paradigm of how inter-state relations should be constructed in the modern world. Our multifaceted cooperation is characterised by equality, mutual benefit, and an absolutely non-conformist nature.

After last year’s record in mutual trade, Russia and China have maintained dynamic economic growth and economic interaction despite the negative external impact. According to our data, bilateral trade increased by 4.5 percent in January-August. Chinese statistics are slightly different, but on the whole, the positive trend persists.

The agreements reached at our talks in Beijing in May and the meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Astana are being consistently implemented. We are successfully executing joint projects in energy, industry, high technology, transportation, agriculture and many other domains.

A new logistics centre has been built here in Tatarstan, named after Deng Xiaoping. This centre facilitates cargo transportation between our countries.

Humanitarian ties are also growing stronger, and cultural events are taking place as part of cross-year programmes. A total of 40 such events are planned on both sides. Mutual tourist flows, sports and educational exchanges are growing as well. As I was getting about the Kremlin yesterday, I saw large groups of Chinese tourists right there, in the heart of Russia, at the Kremlin in Moscow, as has been invariably the case in recent months and years.

Russian-Chinese cooperation in global affairs is one of the main stabilising factors in the international arena. We intend to further expand coordination at all multilateral platforms to ensure global security and promote a fairer world order.

We value the traditionally high level of Russia-China cooperation within BRICS. Over the years of our joint work, the group’s influence and prestige has considerably grown. We intend to further strengthen that entity, and we did everything we could in this regard while Russia was chairing it.

After our meeting, the leaders of the BRICS countries will meet at dinner tonight, for the first time in a new, enlarged composition. I have talked to – I just got off the phone with President of Brazil Lula da Silva. As you know, he had to stay home for medical reasons. He deeply regrets not being here in person, but he intends to join us tomorrow via videoconference. I told him it would be four in the morning local time and could be too strenuous for him. But he insisted, saying: “No, I want to participate in person, at least via videoconference.” I would like to convey his best wishes to you.

I am glad of this opportunity to meet with you before the summit, to make sure we are on the same page and discuss the bilateral agenda and international issues.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Welcome.

President of China Xi Jinping (retranslated): Mr President, my dear old friend,

I was delighted to receive your invitation to come to the ancient city of Kazan to attend the 16^th BRICS Summit. This is our third meeting this year.

The BRICS Summit is taking place in Kazan, and I learnt a lot about this city. I know that this summit is of great importance. I found out that, 400 years ago, the Great Tea Road, which connected our countries, also passed through Kazan. Chinese Wuyi tea was brought to Russia via this route.

At the beginning of this month, we exchanged congratulations on the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. Over the past decades, China-Russia relations have withstood the test of a changing international situation, come a long way and acquired an unprecedented character. We have taken the right path of building relations between great powers on the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-direction against third parties.

Mr President, in this new era, you and I always pay greater attention to bilateral relations and monitor them personally.

Both countries are committed to the spirit of eternal good-neighbourliness and friendship, as well as comprehensive strategic interaction and mutually beneficial cooperation, and constantly enhance and expand multifaceted strategic interaction and practical cooperation in all areas, thereby giving a powerful boost to national revival and modernisation, making a major contribution to the well-being of the two nations and the protection of international justice.

During this unprecedent tectonic transformation, unseen for centuries, the international situation is undergoing serious changes and upheavals. However, this cannot shake my conviction that the strategic choice of the two countries in favour of firm mutual support, the deep centuries-old friendship between our countries, and China and Russia’s sense of duty as great powers are inviolable.

BRICS is perhaps one of the most important platforms to consolidate the broad developing world and emerging market countries. It is a system-forming factor in the creation of equal, orderly multipolarity and generally accessible inclusive economic globalisation.

The BRICS Summit that begins tomorrow will be the first one after the group’s expansion. It will be crucial for the promotion of cooperation within the greater BRICS. We appreciate the enormous work done by Russia as part of its chairmanship, which has largely facilitated the successful beginning of cooperation within the greater BRICS. We praise it.

I look forward to a substantive discussion with my BRICS colleagues, first and foremost with you, on further development of our association, which will allow us to consolidate our positions and send a positive signal of solidarity and cooperation, but also to expand large-scale strategic interaction and practical cooperation within the group, hence opening up additional opportunities for the Global South countries and making a greater contribution to the cause of building a community of common destiny for humanity.

Thank you.

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