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Vladimir Putin: Esteemed Ms. President, esteemed colleagues, friends. Allow me to once again cordially welcome you to Moscow.

I want to once again stress that Russia is interested in taking relations between the two countries to a higher level. And as our conversation, just held with Ms. President, has shown, Indonesia adheres to the same position.

Relations between Russia and Indonesia have a more than half-century history. Our countries possess a rich experience of mutually beneficial cooperation. I am convinced that the Declaration on the Foundations of Friendly and Partner Relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Indonesia in the 21st Century, signed today at the highest level, will impart an important impetus to the development of all-round cooperation between our countries.

Ms. President told me very thoroughly about everything we today touched on in the course of our talks. I can confirm that today's meetings with Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri were very productive, thorough and concerned the most important questions of our interaction.

We were unanimous in the view that the time has come to take our relations to a higher level. Relations between our countries, we noted, are generally on the rise and dynamically evolving.

At the same time, Russia and Indonesia have good, great potential for the intensification of bilateral cooperation in the political, trade-and-economic, technological and military technical fields.

All of this has found reflection in the Declaration signed today — a political document which is called upon to determine relations between our states for the long term. In addition, a whole package of documents was signed which is called upon to expand the legal basis of our cooperation.

Today's talks have also borne out the similarity of our positions on key questions of the international agenda.

We advocate the formation of an equitable and democratic system of international relations. A system based on the generally recognized principles and rules of international law and on political and diplomatic methods of solving international problems.

We note with satisfaction the identity of our countries' positions on the role of the United Nations in resolving international crises.

We stand for improvements in the UN system and the raising of the efficiency of the mechanisms of this organization.

We highly appreciate cooperation with the Indonesian partners in the Asia-Pacific region, including within the framework of ASEAN and APEC. Considerable attention was paid also to joint work on the combating of international terrorism.

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen.

In closing, I would like to stress that we are pleased with the results of the talks. The meeting with the Indonesian colleagues has shown that relations between our states are built on a solid foundation, having good historical roots.

At the same time, we have clearly-cut aims, and good prospects. And I am confident that our joint work will help achieve significant results in all the areas we today touched on during the talks. Thank you.