Official website of the President of Russia

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Russian President Vladimir Putin: Mr President, dear colleagues. I am glad to see you, welcome.

I am very pleased to see you in Moscow and to be able to exchanged opinions with you on how to develop our bilateral relations and, naturally, to talk about and discuss the most important issue — a Palestinian-Israeli settlement.

You have arrived at a difficult moment, the situation is difficult, but we see you, Mr President, and Prime Minister of Israel Mr Olmert engaged in joint efforts to bring about positive momentum.

Russia welcomes and will fully support these efforts.

Head of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas: Thank you Mr President. Thank you for meeting with us after such a long flight. We are very happy to be in Moscow. There are many issues that we would like to discuss and these problems concern us as well as you. No doubt the security situation in Palestine is very worrying and we are trying with the help of our colleagues and brothers in Egypt to resolve this situation, particularly in relation to the Gaza Strip. And, of course, we are engaged in serious and intensive negotiations with the Israeli party. There are some obstacles to this process, as you know, and we will talk about them.

Among the issues that I would like to discuss with you – is the question of holding a Moscow peace conference. As you know, after conferences in Annapolis and Paris, we agreed that the next conference should be in Moscow. We believe that a Moscow conference will be successful and will lead to progress in a Middle Eastern settlement.

Of course, there are a number of issues related to our bilateral relations and your support for the development of our cooperation is very important for us. We would like to discuss them as well.