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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Dear Mr Secretary General. Let me warmly welcome you to the Kremlin.

You have a full agenda. You are participating in the Conference of Prosecutors General of Europe devoted to the theme ”The role of prosecutors in protecting human rights“. I believe this subject is extremely topical.

We value the relations that exist between Russia and the Council of Europe, and we believe that they need to be developed, all the more so because the items on the agenda for these relations are important. And the number of problems to which we must work out a joint response is also very large. Therefore I am confident that we can discuss all sorts of topics that are relevant for both of us. This conference will help us focus on the large projects which require our cooperation.

Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis: Thank you very much for the kind words of welcome. It is a great honour to be here. I would be happy to discuss numerous issues.

I am pleased to note that the problems in relations between Russia and the Council of Europe have been resolved, thanks to Ambassador Alexander Alekseev, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe, Konstantin Kosachev, Head of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee and Mikhail Margelov, Head of the Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee, and we can go on with the work. There are no problems with the Council of Europe.