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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, I am very glad to meet with you once again.

Our relations, and especially our political relations, are developing quite well. As we pointed out, we must both do a great deal to remedy our weak economic cooperation and to bring our relations to an entirely new level.

Along with this there are some unnoticed yet very important shifts that reflect increased trust in our relations. I am referring to our cooperation in the working group to combat terrorism and other contemporary threats.

There are a lot of sectors of the economy in which we cooperate. They include metallurgy, gas, transportation, energy and the high-tech field, including space exploration. The first steps that have been taken are truly positive ones.

If we pay constant attention to developing our relations then I am convinced that they will develop at a much faster rate that they have until now.

President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf: It is my great pleasure and honour to meet with you once again. I well remember my visit to Moscow during which we discussed many issues in detail arrived at satisfying results.

In the first instance I would like to note the special help that Russia has provided us during Pakistan’s earthquake and, secondly, Russia’s support for giving Pakistan observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. At this moment I would ask that you support Pakistan’s candidature to become a permanent member of the SCO.

I have read the SCO Charter and I want to assure you that Pakistan can play a very important role in the SCO’s activities. Basically the SCO’s Charter maintains that we will all fight terrorism, separatism and extremism and that we will engage in trade and economic cooperation.

I want to assure you that we are going to work together and provide each other with all necessary assistance while obtaining common goals. And I would especially like to emphasize that Pakistan would very much like to have strong, close relations with the Russian Federation.