Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Prime Minister, I am glad for this opportunity to meet and to discuss bilateral relations. Until now we have only discussed the global financial crisis by telephone, in Washington and during this summit in Peru. We should also consider our bilateral relations. There is a lot to discuss in this sphere.

Our relations have been recently developing positively, with good dynamics in trade, economics and other areas; although there is always room for improvement.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Retranslated from Russian): Mr President, I am grateful for this opportunity to meet and discuss bilateral relations. Thank you for your constructive speech at the APEC summit.

The last 24, or say 36, hours have been very constructive. We touched upon the financial crisis, climate change and natural disasters. Now we can indeed talk about bilateral relations, which include many matters.

Relations between Australia and Russia have been developing dynamically in many spheres. We had a chance to meet during the G20 summit; we have held consultations and discussed common issues of interest, questions on which we differ.