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The President of the United Arab Emirates is in Russia on an official visit.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you once again to Moscow and the Moscow Kremlin.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting with Mr President in an informal setting to discuss all the sensitive aspects of our cooperation. We noted several issues requiring special attention, as despite the threefold increase in mutual trade over the past three years, we have observed a slight decline in the past seven months. We agreed that our colleagues will work on these issues separately, and we have the opportunity to do so today.

I suggest that we structure our work as follows: I will give the floor to our guest for opening remarks. After that, I propose that we turn to our colleagues to discuss respective areas of our work, including industry, energy, infrastructure, transport and, of course, international affairs. Our collaboration in this area is crucial not only for regional matters, on a regional scale, but also globally, since we work closely together at international organisations. Participants in one such international format are currently gathering for the summit in Kazan, due to begin tomorrow. We also collaborate at such major international platforms as the United Nations.

 Thank you for your attention. Mr President, the floor is yours.

President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (retranslated): I would like to thank my dear friend, President Vladimir Putin, for these kind words, warm reception and hospitality. I am delighted to meet with you again. This is our third meeting, Mr President, in less than 18 months. I must say that we have always stayed in touch in recent years.

I appreciate our relationship on both the personal level and in terms of our working cooperation. Mr President, I would also like to offer you belated greetings on your birthday, which was on October 7, and wish you a long life, good health, prosperity, and peace.

My dear friend, the relationship between Russia and the United Arab Emirates is of a historical and strategic nature. Since the declaration of the strategic partnership in 2018, our relations have been making strides, especially in the economy, trade, energy, and other fields.

In 2018, trade between us, excluding the oil sector, amounted to $2.5 billion, but last year, this figure exceeded $11 billion. I would like to confirm to Your Excellency that the UAE is ready to make every effort to achieve even higher figures.

The UAE is working towards concluding an agreement on comprehensive cooperation between the UAE and the Eurasian Economic Union. This will be a major step in our cooperation.

I would also like to mention something that has left a mark in the heart of every Emirati and will forever remain in the history of our relations: Russia has made a great contribution to achieving the dream of Sheikh Zayed, who founded the United Arab Emirates. This dream was to send an Emirati cosmonaut into space. Hazza Al Mansouri became the first Emirati cosmonaut aboard the ISS. He flew aboard a Russian spacecraft and became the second Emirati after Sultan Al Neyadi to achieve the success that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin once achieved.

The UAE also continues to facilitate the mediation in humanitarian issues and the exchange of war prisoners. We held an exchange several days ago. Let me assure you that we will continue this work. We are ready to make any additional effort to settle crises and conflicts in the interests of peace in the world and in the interests of our two countries.

Mr President, I wish you success in BRICS chairmanship. We praise the enormous efforts you have been making this year, during Russia’s chairmanship of BRICS in order to achieve the chairmanship’s priorities: to promote cooperation in the economy, climate, healthcare, culture, sports, and science among other areas.

Mr President, the UAE supports the creation of a multipolar world where all parties and countries can develop. We sincerely support you in this area, within the framework of BRICS, the SCO, as part of our interaction in the OPEC+ format, and in other formats.

In conclusion, Mr President, I would like to thank you once again for your hospitality and for the wonderful and warm conversation we had yesterday during an informal dinner. I sincerely hope that our relations will continue to advance and flourish in the future.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, Mr President. You have mentioned almost all areas of our cooperation. There is one more very important area: culture, humanitarian ties, and education.

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