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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Colleagues, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Kremlin.

I know you have worked well today, and I want to start by congratulating you all on the legal founding of this new organisation – the Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum, which, following today’s meeting, can now be considered established.

As I understand it, all of the founding documents, the Charter and the agreement, have been signed. This is a significant event for the markets, and I hope that it will have a full and strong impact.

You all know very well that in the current situation having the exporting countries take a coordinated position is crucial for global stability, energy security, and a balance between the interests of exporters, transit countries, and consumers. This is the context in which we should consider this issue. All attempts to regulate relations in the gas sector or in any other sector for that matter, to the detriment of third parties usually prove ineffective.

In the current situation, when all of us face a number of big problems, problems that are not of our making, our ability to act in consolidated fashion on the international markets is vital for our countries’ prosperity and for the success of our common strategy. There is no doubt of the importance of this work in helping us to overcome the global financial crisis.

I therefore want to thank you all once more for coming to the Russian Federation and taking part in the Forum. I hope that our joint work will soon lead us into a new situation of greater consolidation and coordination, and the economic successes that will come with it.