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The President noted during the meeting that relations between Russia and NATO have gained in substance and become more productive of late, which creates opportunities for building a more solid security system in Europe and the world.

Russia’s delegation at the meeting included Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, and Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin.

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Secretary General, it is a pleasure to see you and wish you welcome.

I want to start by saying that relations between Russia and NATO have gained in substance and become more productive of late. We welcome this, as it creates opportunities to work harder on building up our cooperation and developing a more solid security system in Europe and the world.

We will discuss the current situation today, but I hope that later, at the summit in Lisbon, we will have the chance to talk about key cooperation areas between Russia and NATO. You know that I have decided to attend this summit, and I think it will be a useful event.

Once more, I wish you welcome to the Kremlin.

Nato Secretary General anders Fogh Rasmussen: Thank you very much, Mr President. I’m really happy to be in Moscow once again. I’m pleased that you accepted my invitation to attend the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Lisbon on the 20^th of November. Now I look very much forward to a productive meeting and I’m here to prepare that meeting jointly, to make sure that it will be a productive meeting, that we will see concrete results from that meeting.

I share your view that we have seen substantial progress in our relationship during recent months. And I would very much like to develop our cooperation further. I think that summit in Lisbon will represent a fresh start for our relationship, a modernization of our relationship. And I think there is scope for further development of practical cooperation in the coming years.