Official website of the President of Russia

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President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, esteemed gentlemen,

I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the beginning of your diplomatic missions in Russia.

Our country has on many occasions proven itself to be a responsible and reliable ally in resolving the common problems faced by all humanity and building a new, safer and fairer world order. Also important is that the stable economic development Russia has demonstrated over recent years makes it an attractive financial and economic partner.

I hope that your missions here will be aimed at achieving greater mutual understanding, more fully developing the potential we have for cooperation and will give genuine new impetus to all-round development of the relations between our countries.

Esteemed gentlemen,

Here today are the official representatives of countries with which Russia has longstanding relations of friendship and partnership.

This is every bit true of Portugal. Our cooperation has developed considerably over the last 30 years. But we do not plan to stop here, of course. The excellent prospects for expanding our cooperation received confirmation during our meetings in Portugal last November.

What distinguishes our relations with Belgium is their concrete substance and the trusting dialogue we have established. This is a good foundation on which to build up our cooperation in all different areas, including in trade and the economy.

I would like to emphasise that we are grateful to the Belgian and Portuguese leadership for their consistent support for strengthening the equal partnership between Russia and the European Union. As you know, this is one of our key foreign policy priorities.

We are pleased to note that our political, economic and humanitarian-cultural ties with the republic of Macedonia are undergoing rapid development and we have already achieved some noticeable results in all these areas.

We will do all we can to ensure that Russian-Swedish relations, which go back centuries, will develop in a positive direction and bring benefits to both our countries. We hope that a similar positive impetus from the Swedish side will enable us to take our cooperation to an even higher level, that of a genuine partnership. The already well-established direct contacts between Sweden and Russia’s northwest regions are a good foundation for this.

A spirit of friendship and understanding form the basis for Russia’s relations with the Republic of Benin. We have managed to establish a dynamic political dialogue and activate our work together on international affairs over recent years. We also see real prospects for building up our trade and economic ties.

We have longstanding traditions of friendship with the Republic of Cyprus and we welcome Cyprus’ interest, including as a full member of the European Union, in active cooperation with Russia. It is in the interests of both our countries to make maximum use of the potential we have built up through our scientific, economic, trade and other ties. We are ready to continue actively helping to work towards a fair and viable solution to the problem of Cyprus based on the United Nations Security Council resolution.

We value our consistently friendly relations with the Republic of Senegal and we hope that the renewed activity of your embassy in Moscow will help us to develop our relations fruitfully in all different areas.

We have every possibility we need in order to give our bilateral cooperation with the State of Kuwait an additional impetus and take our relations to a qualitatively new level. I hope that you will take an active position in this respect, Mr Ambassador.

In conclusion, I would like to ensure you that all your efforts to develop multifaceted and mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia will meet with the unfailing support of your colleagues in the Russian Federation.

I wish you success in your responsible work in our country.

I wish you and your families all the very best.

Thank you very much for your attention.