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chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’S Congress Wu Bangguo (translated from Russian): Mr President,

It is a pleasure to welcome you on this state visit to China and a pleasure to see you again.

You have made a big contribution to developing the friendship between our countries. I want to congratulate you on your election as president. Of course, this result cannot but make people in both Russia and China happy. True, there are also some who are not happy with this result, but I think that overall your victory was to be expected.

I had the chance at lunch today to see the reports on your meeting with President Hu Jintao. You had a substantial exchange of views on a broad range of issues. Both sides reached shared positions on a number of issues and also signed a number of important cooperation agreements.

Today, you have also met with Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Xi Jinping, and Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

I note this visit’s great importance. It has produced good results, of course, and so I think I can congratulate you already on a successful and productive stay here. 

I wish you a pleasant time here in China and once again wish you welcome.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.

This visit is indeed going very positively. The atmosphere has been very warm and friendly and also very substantive.

You noted the results achieved so far during the visit. I want to say just how much we value the parliament’s support for the decisions we take at the executive level.

You visited Russia last year. This year, the heads of both houses of the Russian parliament are scheduled to visit China. Our parliamentarians play a big part in organising and developing the contacts between our peoples.

In this respect, let me say that people in Russia know and love China and have big interest in your country’s great history and culture. We will therefore do all we can to support the two new initiatives – the reciprocal tourism years that we will hold in each other’s countries – and we hope for your support too. 

Wu Bangguo: Thank you for your warm words.

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