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President Putin and Prime Minister Aznar first negotiated one-to-one and were subsequently joined by their delegations. After the talks, the two sides signed bilateral agreements.

Mr Aznar told a concluding news conference that five cooperation agreements in the fields of tourism, customs proceedings, archives, education and taxation had been signed.

Mr Putin praised the talks in Madrid, expressed his opinion of his countries relations with Spain and the EU, and touched upon the subject of international efforts to combat terrorism and crime.

The Russian President replied to questions about the situation in the Chechen Republic, the arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky, CEO of the media holding Media-Most, and the government reform.

Mr Aznar and Mr Putin also said they had agreed to hold regular annual summits and to establish an inter-governmental group on economic cooperation.

After the news conference, Mr Aznar organised an official lunch in honour of Mr Putin. Speaking at the lunch, the Russian President said the Spanish Prime Minister was now an important partner, and that both men were of the same age and shared the same views. The Russian head of state thanked his hosts for their warm-hearted reception and expressed confidence that Russian-Spanish relations had a bright future.