Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr President, first of all, it is a pleasure to have this chance to meet. Of course, the occasion is clouded by the terrorist attack that has just taken place in Afghanistan. I ask you to accept my sincere condolences. This attack is yet further confirmation that we must consolidate our efforts to prevent these kinds of events and continue to develop our cooperation with Afghanistan in this area.

In my speech at the SCO summit today, in which you took part, I said that we want to see a developing and stable Afghanistan able to guarantee rights and freedoms, and provide all Afghans with a safe and normal life. We are ready to use what possibilities we have to help Afghanistan to achieve these goals. We have discussed these matters on past occasions together and our talks have always been productive. I hope that today too we will be able to discuss some of these issues, and I hope that you and I will have the chance to meet again very soon and continue our bilateral talks.

President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai (translated from Russian): Thank you very much for this chance to meet today, and for remembering the tragic terrorist attack that has struck our country and resulted in the deaths of our citizens. Thank you for your condolences. As you rightly noted in your speech, there is a lot that Russia and Afghanistan can and must do together. We see and recognise Russia’s goodwill and your personal goodwill towards Afghanistan. Mr President, thank you very much for your words today, and for paying particular and detailed attention to Afghanistan and clearly outlining Russia’s position. Thank you for your support.