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President of Hungary Laszlo Solyom (translation from Hungarion through Russian simultaneous translation): I would like to thank the media who are present here today.

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin is paying an official visit to the Hungarian Republic for the first time.

Mr President and I first had a private meeting and then talks continued with members of our delegations. We exchanged opinions on issues concerning international politics and global challenges. We feel positively about the opportunities and prospects for the development of Russian-Hungarian relations, especially in the economic sphere.

We mentioned important issues such as maintaining military cemeteries. I was pleased to note that certain books have been returned to us. I made it clear that we highly value cooperation in overcoming global challenges. We especially welcome the fact that Russia has ratified the Kyoto Protocol. And I expressed special hope that the Russian presidency of the G8 in 2006 will help us solve certain universal problems.

I informed Mr President about how public associations and non-governmental organizations operate in Hungary. We agreed with Mr President that the situation of Finno-Ugric national minorities is not a political issue. Hungary would like to provide economic, educational and cultural help to the peoples related to Hungarians that live in the Russian Federation. And we would like to do this in tandem with Russia. We took note of the fact that our economic ties have developed a great deal over these last few years and that they take into account Hungary's geopolitical interests.

President Vladimir Putin stated Russia's thoughts about the prospects for developing economic ties. The details will be discussed during talks with Mr Prime Minister and with the delegations. I told Mr President that the Hungarian people draw a sharp distinction between the friendly feelings they have towards the Russian people and the feelings they harbour towards the Soviet system. I assured Mr President that celebrations dedicated to the 50 th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution will not contain any kind of antirussian sentiment.

We stressed cultural cooperation and we would like to expand the positive experience we have gained from past cultural links and apply it in other spheres as well.

Vladimir Putin: For my part I would like to first and foremost thank the President and Hungarian leadership for the invitation. I should like to invite Mr President to visit Russia with or without a delegation and at any time that is convenient for him. I hope that such a visit will take place.

We really spoke about a wide range of issues. Both concerning economics and concerning cooperation in the spheres of culture and education. But first and foremost I would like to say that we consider this visit to be more than just a random event. It was possible due to the fact that over the last four years Russian-Hungarian cooperation has undergone a fundamental change. Of course we have had problems in the past, including in 1956. In 1992 President Boris Yeltsin assessed these events and condemned the actions by Soviet leadership.

Certainly modern Russia is not the Soviet Union but I must tell you frankly that in our hearts we feel a certain moral responsibility for these events. But our task consists in thinking about the future so as not to forget about the past. And the events of the last three years have shown that we have very good prospects for cooperation and for developing our relations. And the results were achieved precisely because of the fact that we improved the level of political cooperation and trust between our two countries. Cooperation between Hungary and the Russian Federation has a positive effect on the relations between Russia and EU member states in general.

In practice we have opened our markets to Hungarian agricultural products and are ready to help any small or medium Hungarian businesses in the Russian Federation. Major Russian companies are ready to invest in the Hungarian economy and we have to think together about multilateral projects which will undoubtedly have a serious value for all of Europe.

We note with satisfaction that the Days of Hungarian Culture in Russia and the Days of Russian Culture in Hungary were successful. We shall assist the development and increasing interest in the Russian language. We are grateful to our partners for their support in this area.

This is still the beginning of the visit but the atmosphere of good will and interest makes me believe that it will be very useful and productive.

I would like to thank Mr President for the atmosphere that has been created during talks. Thank you.