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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, colleagues,

Please allow me to once again welcome you to Astrakhan, Russia. We worked very productively within the framework of the Caspian Summit, achieving good results, thanks in part to your delegation’s position and your personal stand.

I am very glad that we have the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting; we met fairly recently, but the volume of our business ties ensures that each of our meetings is quite substantive.

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani (retranslated): Thank you very much, Mr President, for your warm welcome, as well as the effort that has gone into successfully holding the Fourth Caspian Summit.

In essence, the agreement reached today is the result of intensive efforts from your side and your colleagues. The atmosphere we had at the summit was very positive. It demonstrated that all the nations strive to develop cooperation.

I am very pleased that during the past year, I had the opportunity to meet with you four times and discuss issues of interest to our nations. However, what’s important is not the number of meetings but the progress we have achieved in our relations.

For us, our relations with our important neighbour had special significance, and this significance is increasing today. This is due to bilateral developments, as well as the sensitive situation in the region.

For us, it is a point of pride that we were pioneers, so to speak, among other nations that recognised the threat of international terrorism and began to fight it. Those who are currently attempting to raise the battle flag against terrorism are very late and quite far behind the pioneers in this effort.

I am very happy that our nations have similar or identical positions on many regional issues, as well as on matters on the bilateral agenda. I am also very pleased to have the opportunity today to continue our discussion.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

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