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President Vladimir Putin: Dear ladies and gentlemen!

The President of Indonesia and I have finished our talks. I would like to say at once that we are satisfied with their outcome and the overall results of our visit.

Indonesia is a dynamically developing and influential state in South East Asia and Russia is interested in deepening its multifaceted cooperation with such a promising partner as Indonesia.

We would like to congratulate Mr President and the Indonesian leadership on the economic growth they have achieved in recent years. Indonesia’s authority on the international stage is also increasing.

Today we discussed a wide range of bilateral issues in detail. One of the meeting’s central themes was the development of our economic relations, namely engaging in new large-scale projects and concrete initiatives. We agreed that we can fully exploit our countries’ economic potential by engaging in closer cooperation in energy, mining, telecommunications and space research. We have significant prospects in the field of military and technical cooperation.

I would also point out that we have signed an agreement on protecting and promoting mutual investments. We consider that by strengthening the legal basis of our economic cooperation we will be able to better encourage direct contacts between our countries’ business communities and create favourable conditions for increasing capital investment.

During our talks we discussed the issue of expanding bilateral cooperation in fields such as culture, academia, education and tourism. The government of Indonesia’s decision to allow Russian tourists to obtain visas upon arrival in Indonesia will certainly increase the number of Russian tourists in Indonesia. We are also thankful to the Indonesian authorities and Indonesian people for such a warm and cordial attitude towards Russian citizens.

During our discussions with Mr President we had a constructive exchange of opinions on key international issues.

I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks for the invitation and the very warm welcome. Russia accords a great deal of significance to the development of relations with Indonesia. And the representative delegation that traveled to Jakarta in light of your invitation, Mr President, acts as proof of this. The Russian delegation includes representatives from various ministries and departments, heads of regions of the Russian Federation, and representatives from the Russian business community. We are very pleased that relations between our countries have taken on a stable character and are developing steadily.

We are pleased with the nature of our bilateral political relations as well as our contacts within international organisations. During our talks with Mr President in a restricted format we observed that our positions are either close or coincide on various key issues on the international agenda.

Our trade and economic relations are developing successfully. In just the past five months our volume of trade grew by 65 percent. We consider fields such as energy, mining, metallurgy, telecommunications and space to be especially promising.

I should point out that the Joint Statement we adopted reflects the similarity of Russian and Indonesian attitudes to a number of global and regional problems. Both our states are in favour of establishing just, democratic relations in the international arena. The mutual respect of each other’s interests, the predominance of international law, and resolving conflicts through peaceful, political and democratic means are the principles that must constitute the basis of international relations.

We paid significant attention to problems concerning the fight against international terrorism. And we share our partners’ opinion that the UN plays a central role in organising collective action taken to combat this evil. We highly appreciate our cooperation with Indonesia in the Asia-Pacific region. Our permanent contacts within influential international forums provide us with new possibilities for international cooperation and for setting up a dialogue between civilizations and religions.

In conclusion I would like to thank Mr President for the constructive, business-oriented discussion and for the warm welcome.

I reiterated my invitation to Mr President to make an official visit to the Russian Federation. I hope that Mr President will find time in his schedule next year for this visit.

The relations between our countries are going to develop for the benefit of our peoples and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Thank you.