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Vladimir Putin: First of all, I would like to emphasise that there are excellent prospects for the development of Russian-Kyrgyz relations. Our relations are quite dynamic in the political field, on the international scene. We coordinate our moves in the UN and other international organisations. We share or have close positions on a number of acute foreign policy issues. We are united by joint efforts in asserting in international affairs such fundamental principles of international law as sovereignty, non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. Our relations are built strictly on the basis of these underlying principles, and we will work to further develop them relying on these basic concepts.

At the same time, relations between Kyrgyzstan and Russia have a special character due to closeness of our positions on the issues I have just mentioned. Kyrgyzstan is the most active participant in the integration processes on the post-Soviet space. We are closely cooperating in the framework of the Customs Union and the Collective Security Treaty. A certain decline in our economic relations was caused by the 1998 financial crisis, which had negative consequences not only in Russia but also in Kyrgyzstan. At present our economic relations are on the rise.

The documents we have signed today confirm the high level of our relations and create good prospects and a legal basis for their development in the future. They embrace our interaction in the political, economic and humanitarian fields, as well as military and military-technological cooperation. In this connection, I would like to emphasise once again that Russia highly appreciates the decision taken by the Kyrgyz leadership as regards the status of the Russian language in the republic, as this creates wonderful opportunities for our multifaceted, multidimensional cooperation in the future.

I would like to thank President Askar Akayev for this visit and our meaningful discussion. I would like to express my gratitude to all his colleagues who accepted our invitation and came here to work together with us on these documents. I hope that our relations will continue to develop positively and dynamically in the future.

Thank you.