OREANDA-NEWS. June 17, 2009. A welcome ceremony for the Chinese President took place in the St George Hall at the Grand Kremlin Palace before the talks began. Mr Hu Jintao is in Russia on a state visit.
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr President, Chinese colleagues, I want to wish you a warm welcome to the Kremlin.

Today, President of China Hu Jintao, is making a state visit to the Russian Federation. We met five times last year. This was a good result and it shows how dynamically relations between Russia and China are developing. We have regular contacts and I think this is a guarantee that the strategic partnership and cooperation between our countries will continue to develop. 

Our countries, like the rest of the world, are in the process of fighting the global financial crisis. The way our partnership develops will be a vital factor for many of the decisions taken by the G20 and other groups. Mr President, we were just in Yekaterinburg together, where we took part in the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organisation] summit and the BRIC Group’s first summit.

So, much depends on how we coordinate our efforts. We need to do everything possible to maintain the positive results we have achieved over these last years. Last year, our bilateral trade reached a figure of USD 55 billion. We will try to do everything we can to keep our economic cooperation at this level and minimise the effects of the crisis this year.

At our one-on-one meeting just now we discussed bilateral relations and foreign policy coordination between Russia and China. Now we can continue in expanded format, exchange views on developing our bilateral ties further and sign a number of agreements reflecting the different areas in which we cooperate.

Once again, I wish you welcome, Mr President, and hope now to continue our dialogue.