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President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The talks between President of the Republic of Korea Roh Moo Hyun and myself have just ended.

We discussed a wide range of bilateral and international issues and we consider the talks to have been very substantial and fruitful.

I can say with certainty today that our relations have reached a qualitatively new level, that of a partnership built on trust and covering a broad range of areas.

A partnership of this kind is in the interests of our peoples and serves to strengthen security and cooperation in North-East Asia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region in general.

We have signed a Declaration that sets out the key areas for our political, economic and humanitarian cooperation.

We intend to step up our political dialogue and develop ties between our parliaments, public organisations and business communities.

There are clearly very good prospects for developing our trade and economic cooperation. We have set out concrete measures for furthering our work together in the energy sector, in transport and in the aviation and space industry. We also have plans to increase cooperation in natural resource development, high technology in general, telecommunications and the fishing industry.

Today a whole range of agreements that will give a boost to our practical bilateral business cooperation was signed in our presence.

I would like to note, for example, a major project to build a petrochemical plant and oil refinery in Tatarstan.

Our plans also include providing training and organising a flight on board a Russian spacecraft for a South Korean cosmonaut, and cooperation in other high-technology sectors.

The agreements that we signed today come to a total value of more than $4 billion.

Of course, we also talked in depth about all aspects of the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Russia supports the policy of developing dialogue between the two Korean states and bringing them closer together.

Our country has always consistently supported a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and the continuation of the six-nations negotiation process. We also hope to develop cooperation between Russia, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in carrying out joint energy and transport projects. We are also ready to work together with these two countries on other projects. We think that this kind of cooperation would be of not just economic but also political benefit.

We also discussed a whole range of international issues today. I would like to note that we share similar views on both global international problems and on regional issues.

I would like to thank our Korean friends, partners and the Korean President for the atmosphere of trust and openness in which our talks took place.

Thank you for your attention.

President Roh Moo Hyun: Thank you to President Putin for his warm welcome. During our talks which have just ended, the President and I both agreed that Russia and Korea have developed their ties very actively in many areas since the 1990s when we re-established our bilateral relations. We have made a lot of effort to develop cooperation in every area.

President Putin and I shared the same view that the Korean Government’s policy of peace and prosperity in North-East Asia and the Russian Government’s policy of actively developing Eastern Siberia and the Far East are moving in the same direction. Given that we are pursuing similar aims, we both believe that we will be able to develop mutually beneficial relations in the future.

The Joint Russian-Korean Declaration that the President and I just signed is very important as it sets out the key directions for future relations between our countries and assesses the results that we have achieved so far in various areas. We believe that this document will serve as a foundation for the future continuous development of our bilateral relations.

We appreciate the constructive role the Russian Government is playing in the six-nation talks that aim at settling the nuclear issue in the DPRK through negotiations, and we have thanked the Russian Government for their active assistance and their understanding in settling this issue through a process of negotiation. President Putin and I both agreed that this kind of cooperation can serve as a foundation for expanding the cooperation between our two countries to all areas, including settling global and regional problems.

Mr Putin and I both expressed our satisfaction that our trade cooperation is increasing and will continue to develop in the future. The same goes for our cooperation in various other areas including energy, the space industry and the IT sector. President Putin and I both expressed the view that the agreements signed today, including the agreement on cooperation in the aviation and space sectors and several memorandums signed between Korean and Russian firms will help lay the legal foundation for further development of our bilateral relations.

Our Government reiterated its support for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation and President Putin and I were unanimous on the need to resolve such international issues as the spread of weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism. We both affirmed our intention to work together and make every effort to fight international terrorism.

In conclusion, I would once more like to thank President Putin for his active help and attentive attitude towards our country and the development of our bilateral relations. I would like to take this opportunity to say how pleased I am that President Putin and I can speak of such excellent results to come out of our talks.

Over this short time in Moscow I have met with President Putin three times, and the meeting yesterday evening was particularly useful as the President and I had a very open and productive discussion of all the issues of key importance for the further development of our bilateral relations. I would like to take this opportunity to once more thank Mr Putin for the particular attention he has shown me.