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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Madam President, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like once again to thank the President of Argentina for the invitation.

We had very detailed talks both in a restricted group and in an expanded format. We touched upon the international agenda, noting that we are successfully cooperating within leading international organisations, primarily the United Nations, the G20 and others.

I would like to note that we are developing our relations with Argentina in all areas. This concerns politics, the humanitarian sphere and the economy. Despite the current complicated developments in the world economy, we have managed to retain the positive trend in the trade turnover between our two countries: it has grown by over 16 percent in the past year.

Overall, Madam President has touched upon all the issues we discussed. I would like to specify a few things.

I want to remind you that over 20 percent of hydropower in Argentina is generated using Russian equipment. We expect our companies to take an active part in the modernisation of the generating units and the construction of new power stations in Argentina.

One of our companies Inter RAO UES plans to take part in the construction of the Chihuido-1 hydropower station worth a total of $2 billion. Another company is implementing a contract to supply $19 million worth of turbines to the Punta Negra hydropower station. That company is ready to take part in the modernisation of the Salto Grande Argentinian-Uruguayan hydropower station. Work is also underway on the project for the Argentina-Patagonia hydropower station.

As Madam President has already said, we see great prospects for our cooperation in nuclear power generation. Russia’s Rosatom is bidding for the construction of the third generating unit of the Atucha nuclear power station.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that Russia employs advanced technologies in the engineering of nuclear power stations. They are known for their economic efficiency and the most stringent safety and environmental standards.

An agreement was signed today on cooperation in the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. We expect it to become a firm foundation for close cooperation in this area.

We intend to strengthen cooperation in other high technology areas as well, including space exploration. We expect a positive decision on the deployment in Argentina of ground-based equipment for the Russian GLONASS global positioning system.

We attach special importance to our cooperation in military technology. Today we discussed some projects in this area, among them shipments to Argentina of helicopter equipment and military cargo planes for joint operations in the Antarctic.

”We are developing our relations with Argentina in all areas. Despite the current complicated developments in the world economy, we have managed to retain the positive trend in the trade turnover between our two countries“

We are expanding cooperation between our law enforcement agencies, and you had the opportunity to witness the signing of a relevant agreement.

There is one more important point I would like to highlight. We will continue developing cooperation in the information sphere. This is the purpose of the Agreement on Cooperation in Mass Communication, which in one way or another has to do with the activities of our esteemed colleagues present here today. The agreement will help leading news agencies in Russia and Argentina to expand their contacts and to exchange information on a regular basis.

We are grateful to Argentina for the opportunity it has provided to the Russian broadcasting company Russia Today. For the first time the audience of a Latin American country will be able to watch its Spanish programming round the clock on a dedicated channel.

Of special importance are our cultural ties. We support the tours of our leading companies to Argentina. As I have already said, we suggest holding a mutual Year of Culture in our two countries next year, when we will be marking 130 years of diplomatic ties between Russia and Argentina. A week of films by Mosfilm studios is scheduled for September in Buenos Aires.

In the course of our talks today, we have covered pressing regional and international issues, as Madam President has said. I would like to note that in this sense Argentina is a very comfortable partner for us. Naturally, Argentina often has its own opinion on key international issues, but this is its own sovereign opinion – something you do not see very often in the world today and we value it highly.

I would like to thank Madam President one more time for the positive working and friendly atmosphere that was created during our meeting today.

Thank you for your attention.