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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister, I am very happy to see you.

First, I would like to congratulate you on your re-election as Prime Minister. I know that you are busy forming your government now.

To begin, I would like to note right off that we have an upward trend in mutual trade: in 2017, trade increased by over 17 percent.

We need to maintain this pace and not allow it to backslide – there were some alarming signs in the first quarter – we need to prevent a reversal of the trend that has developed over the past year.

We need to concentrate on the intergovernmental commission. The commission has been successful so far. A large number of companies on both sides are interested in cooperation.

Various industries have shown achievements. I hope today we will have time to talk about all these issues, as well as the situation in your country and in the region as a whole.

Glad to see you.

Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri (retranslated): Mr President, thank you very much. I am always happy to come to Moscow – it is an opportunity for us to exchange views on many issues.

We certainly have ongoing projects we need to work on in the future. But we have also noted progress, and with the new Government, Lebanon intends to continue these efforts.

I hope that the World Cup in Russia will be a success. I also hope that we will have an opportunity to discuss the situation in the region in detail.

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