Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Prime Minister,

I am happy to have this opportunity to see you. We met briefly in Washington. I would like to say that I was very impressed by your speech there. It was interesting and meaningful. You made several insightful statements describing how Japan extricated itself from difficulties.

At this summit we are discussing different issues, first of all, the global crisis which has hit the whole world. But this does not prevent us from discussing our bilateral relations. This is good.

We regard Russian-Japanese relations as a key factor of stability in Asia and the Pacific.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso (Retranslated from Russian): Mr President,

I am very happy to work with you. As you noted I had to deal with the financial crisis as soon as I assumed office. Additionally, in my first programme speech in parliament I pointed to the importance of our relations with Russia. I said that we still have outstanding issues. I would like to exchange opinion with you to resolve them.

As you said, Japan and Russia are important neighbours in Asia and the Pacific but our border issue remains unresolved. We must delineate the border because this problem is destabilising the region.

I know that as a lawyer, you are familiar with this problem. I would like our bilateral relations to become normal. Importantly, the values which you are going to promote coincide with ours. I am convinced that this factor will provide new opportunities to our bilateral relations.

Dmitry Medvedev: There are no insoluble problems. You can see what representative delegations we have here. Let them do something useful; let them make an effort with this.

Taro Aso: Thank you.