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President Vladimir Putin: Esteemed Chairman,

Esteemed colleagues,

Allow me once more to wish you a warm welcome to Moscow.

Relations between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China are at a high level, higher perhaps than they have ever been before. We have signed a contract on strategic partnership and are working intensively on its practical details. The peoples of the Russian Federation and China are linked by ties of friendship, business co-operation, and co-operation in the military sphere.

It is with particular satisfaction that we note that you have made your first foreign visit to our country, Mr. Chairman. I am absolutely certain that this visit will be a bright page in our bilateral relations, and will give new impetus to the development of multilateral Russian and Chinese ties.

We welcome to Moscow both a major political figure of China and the entire friendly Chinese people in your person.

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I want to emphasise the fact that we regard the state visit of the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Hu Jintao, to Russia as a very important event in the relations between our countries. This is not just a good opportunity to sum up the work done over the last few years, but to set perspectives for our co-operation in both the medium and long term.

I am absolutely certain that this will be a very important milestone in the development of relations between China and Russia. And our dialogue today, face to face, is very positive, very constructive and substantial, with plenty of details, I would say, on the entire system of Russian and Chinese relations. This shows us that the leadership of Russia and the new leadership of China give special significance to the development of bilateral relations.