VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“During our talks, we had a detailed discussion of the energy industry – particularly, the implementation of ambitious plans in the oil and gas industry and the construction of the Serbian stretch of the South Stream pipeline. <…> Other joint ventures have also been successful: the Banatski Dvor underground gas storage facility will open soon, and there has been generous investment in the modernisation of the NIS (Petroleum Industry of Serbia). Its Russian partner has contributed 500 million euros this year alone.”
“The initiative to set up scientific and cultural centres in Russia and Slovenia holds big potential for humanitarian cooperation. A Russian centre is opening in Ljubljana very soon, and I hope will become a centre of attraction for all those interested in the history of Russia, its art and scientific achievements.”
“I would like to emphasise we are interested in cross investment growth. In 50 Russian regions there are over 200 operating enterprises with Slovenian ownership. We certainly welcome our Slovenian partners’ interest in large-scale cooperation in the Russian market, above all in high-tech.”
“In order to quickly stabilise the energy supply in Japan and close all the gaps in the energy balance, Russia is ready to find a way to increase the supply of natural gas to Japan.”
“Japan is our neighbour. It is a friendly country. We know about the problems that we inherited from the past. But this is a long-term reliable partner. We should do everything to help Japan in this situation.”
“We are holding dynamic negotiations with European countries on introducing visa-free travel between Russia and the European Union. The United States has a visa-free regime with nearly all of the EU countries. If Russia and the United States agreed on visa-free travel before Russia and the European Union do so, it would be a historic step in the development of US-Russian relations.”
“I am pleased to say that Russian investment in the United States keeps growing, including in humanitarian projects and in such sensitive sectors as nuclear engineering. All these projects get the approval of the US Committee on Foreign Investment, which is very gratifying. The number of ties between Americans and Russians keep growing in many spheres at a considerable pace.”
“We have also adopted a large-scale programme for the development of the medical and pharmaceutical industry through to 2020 and look to the broadest possible international cooperation, expecting foreign pharmaceutical firms and companies to establish production capacity in Russian regions, which is actually being done. There are deserving examples in many parts of Russia. What’s more, our colleagues are interested in increasing their localisation by creating new and prestigious jobs while bringing in advanced techniques and quality standards together with innovation.”
“The several dozen Russian companies present in Mongolia are actively investing in the transport infrastructure, railway construction, and the prospecting and development of coal, uranium, and other deposits. No doubt, all this will build upon the export potential of the Mongolian economy – particularly through the use of Russian ports for trade with third-party countries. This mainly concerns the greater use of ports in the Russian Far East.”
“This year Russia and Finland have managed to reverse the negative trends caused by the global economic crisis. Over the first nine months of this year our trade grew by 23% and Russia remains Finland’s largest trade and economic partner. The Russian economy has received a solid amount of direct Finnish investment and major joint projects in infrastructure and innovation continue to be carried out. Finnish companies have invested billions of euros in power generation.”
“At a certain point Russia and Germany charted this course of strengthening cooperation, of building a strategic partnership, and this approach is yielding real, tangible results. Bilateral trade revenue now stands at about 18 billion euros for each side. Well, take 18 billion euros, maybe by yearend it will be 20 billion euros, that's the volume of goods that German industry produces and sells on our market. Is this a lot or a little? And this, as you know, means providing jobs and prosperity for millions of people in Germany.”
“We have all the opportunities for collective development, particularly great transit and transport potential within the SCO, above all continental corridors North-South and Asia-Europe. We could promote broad cooperation in this area, and create the right conditions to launch large-scale ambitious international projects. We agreed with our dialogue partners to expedite the creation of a special SCO account that would become an instrument of financial support for new projects, an account that would accumulate both state and private funds.”
“Russia and Tajikistan are closely tied by bonds of friendship. Our relations have strengthened significantly over the past few years. Our mutual trust is clearly evidenced by the cooperation between our military agencies and the presence of a full-fledged Russian military base in Tajikistan that has been operating with your direct support for a long time. I believe that this is an important factor in the region’s stability.”
“Bulgarian resorts have always been popular with Russians. Hundreds of thousands of Russians spend their holidays on the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea. Between January and August of this year 320,000 Russian tourists visited Bulgaria. This number is expected to reach half a million soon. Russian companies invest a great deal in Bulgarian tourism infrastructure. Russia is eager to continue interacting with Bulgaria to promote mutual tourism.”
"In general, Russia’s foreign trade has been growing at a satisfactory pace this year. Russia’s trade with key partners, actually with all of our trading partners, currently totals $400 billion, up 40% from last year. Obviously, trade within the CIS remains our priority; however, our trade with Eurozone countries, as is well known, is also growing. EU partners currently account for over 50% of Russia’s foreign trade. We are also actively cooperating with the BRIC countries – China, India and Brazil. We are building relations with Latin American countries, and trade with countries of the Asia-Pacific region is on the rise."
“The matter requires negotiations, and the principles underlying the talks depend on the two negotiating parties. Just as the other members of the international community, Russia can only be a guarantor of the process. I know there are many forces in Georgia that want Georgian-Russian relations normalised, and want to have a common future with the Ossetian people. This is the road to travel, and we should not seek other solutions. America is America, Russia is Russia and Ossetia is Ossetia. There's nobody you can invoke, and you can't wait for manna from heaven. "We want no condescending saviours to rule us from their judgment hall" (quotation from l'Internationale). We need to do everything with our own hands. Something has been done already, and we need to make a step in the right direction.”
"Despite the global financial and economic crisis, we were able to retain positive trends in the economy with our Indian partners. Despite the crisis, trade between our countries grew 7.5% last year, and in the first four months of this year, it grew another 26%. We have many concrete large-scale projects, and they are all progressing well. I'm very glad to have the opportunity to meet with you and discuss our joint work."
“I would like to express hope that all events being held during the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia will make it possible to reassess our past and our joint future and will enable the citizens of both countries to get to know each other better and to chart ways of effective work in the near future and in the long-term. It is hardly surprising that General Charles de Gaulle once assessed Russian-French relations and said the Russian-French alliance always became particularly important at all crucial stages of history. One could not say better.”
“The purchase of the Mistral is primarily a matter for the General Staff. We need answers to the following questions: How will the ship be used? Where will she be used? What components will be manufactured and where? I repeat, we want to know what components and in what volume will be manufactured at Russian enterprises. This matters a great deal to us. There are very many issues that have not yet been considered by experts. We should get this work underway, and then we will see. As we know, the Russian defence industry is sufficiently well developed. Russia is a major global arms manufacturer and a leading arms exporter. Just as in any other sector, experience, technology and production end-result exchanges are, of course, useful because this primarily concerns state-of-the-art technology.”
“We suggest that in their cooperation, regional institutions should focus on developing trade and economic ties and the infrastructure as well as on promoting integration and economic projects all with a view to ensuring the prosperity of the Eurasian nations. I believe it is time we initiated serious efforts to organise our common economic space, to modernise our economies, our industrial and cross-border cooperation, and establish new transport routes, high-tech clusters and energy hubs.”
