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Beginning of the Meeting with the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh

July 17, 2006, Konstantinovskii Palace, St Petersburg

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister! Allow me to once again express my satisfaction and gratitude that you have accepted our invitation and come to St Petersburg. Our bilateral relations are developing very rapidly and our countries have reached a very high level of trust. Our three-party meeting with our Chinese partners bears witness to the fact that we are really anxious to find and are looking for ways to improve the situation in our region. We are looking for new opportunities, for new instruments of cooperation.

Indian-Russian bilateral relations are very multifaceted, very diverse. And I am very glad to have the opportunity to exchange impressions with you on the development of our bilateral cooperation.

President of India Manmohan Singh: Mr President, it is both a great honor and a great pleasure for me to be here in Russia. I want to thank you for your invitation to meet with the G8 countries. And your leadership during these meetings acts as proof of just how well you can cope with difficult international issues. Today the economy and the international order as a whole is faced with challenges on a global scale. And at times like these it is of utmost importance that you use the courage, the knowledge and the experiences of all the countries of the world so that we can best resolve the issues and challenges that we are faced with today. And at such a time the leadership of Russia and especially your personal role are of great value in helping resolve these problems.

I would like to once again express my gratitude and emphasise how highly I appreciate your role as host of the G8 summit and the results of our three-country meeting.

Your Excellency, under your leadership our bilateral relations have become stronger and stronger and I would like to express my gratitude for this development. Russia is a great friend of ours, a friend that has passed the test of time and always stood by us during times of trouble and hard times, and we shall never forget this.

I also wish to express my gratitude for your hospitality, your kind invitation, and your big contribution to the results of our meeting.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

July 17, 2006, Konstantinovskii Palace, St Petersburg