Official website of the President of Russia

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President Vladimir Putin: Governor-General, friends and colleagues,

Allow me to wish you once more a hearty welcome to the capital of Russia.

We regard your state visit to Russia as an important point in bilateral relations between our countries.

This is a sign of the high level of cooperation between our nations.

Russia and Canada seem to be distant from each other, but they are in fact neighbours across the Arctic Ocean. But in the modern world, as we know, distances play an increasingly smaller role. Instead, an increasingly greater role is played by unanimity of views on key modern issues. And the views of Canada and Russia on many very important issues on today’s agenda are often very close, and sometimes coincide, which would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.

We can see this in practical work, and it was also confirmed during the visit to the Russian Federation by Prime Minister Chretien at the head of the so-called “Team Canada.”

Welcome!