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President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, dear Mr President.

Allow me to wish you a warm welcome to Moscow. This is already our second meeting this year. I must say that after Poland joined the European Union it has remained one of Russia’s key economic partners in Central and Eastern Europe. Trade between our two countries has reached approximately $7 billion this year and the increase in Russia’s imports from Poland is outstripping that of our exports. We have reached a number of significant agreements and they are now ready. Our relations in the energy sector are also developing. The gas pipeline that crosses Polish territory is now starting to work at its design capacity – almost 33 billion cubic metres of gas. We are pleased to see that Poland is fulfilling its commitment to build a gas pumping station. The relevant economic agreements are now ready and will form the foundation for creating an intergovernmental commission that is to begin work very soon.

I am also very pleased to see that our social and cultural ties are developing. I think that the big book exhibition that took place in Warsaw was a success.

We have drawn up agreements on cooperation in education. We hope that the event planned to mark the Days of Russian Science will be a success. A major exhibition, “Moscow – Warsaw, Warsaw – Moscow” has been prepared and will open very soon. This exhibition’s opening will be the signal to begin preparations for holding the Days of Russian Culture. I am also very much interested in exchanging views with you on issues on the international agenda.

Welcome!

President Aleksander Kwasniewski: I would like to say how pleased I am that we are once again able to meet this year.

But allow me to begin with a tragic moment – the tragedy in Beslan that touched the whole world. As I wrote to you in my letter, Mr President, we would like to convey our condolences, our sorrow and our pain at what has happened, and to offer words of solidarity. Poland was together with Beslan during those days, together with all of Russia, together with the victims’ loved ones. I am sure that we will discuss the fight against terrorism and what we can do to ensure that these kinds of terrorist acts do not happen again in the future.

We will also discuss plans to develop our economic cooperation, which I hope will be very good, all the more so as Russia’s economy is producing good results and Poland is expecting GDP growth of up to 6 percent at the end of the year. We are at a very good point in our history when we can strengthen our economic ties. I hope the economic agreement that has been drawn up will soon be signed. I also think that during your visit to Poland at the beginning of next year we will be able to invite you to take part in an economic forum, because completely new opportunities really are opening up to us. It is very pleasing to see that Polish exports to Russia are growing. We are still concerned, however, by the deficit of Polish imports from Russia, currently still at $4 billion, but I think we will have the opportunity to change this situation, as this is the desire of the business community, people.

Tomorrow morning I shall visit a factory built by a Polish entrepreneur 100 kilometres outside Moscow. This is a modern factory with state-of-the-art technology. I am sure that we will see more Polish investors of this kind. I am very pleased, Mr President, to see the emphasis you put on developing cultural and scientific ties, and we must indeed continue to maintain and develop all these ties.

I am accompanied by our Defence Minister and I know that tomorrow he has a meeting with Defence Minister Ivanov. I think that our military cooperation will also develop accordingly. We have many questions and I am happy that you have found the time to discuss everything. Once again, thank you for your invitation.