OREANDA-NEWS. February 15, 2009. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with the leaders of the European Parliament’s Group of the European People’s Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED).

"We are closely following EP debates on Russia's problems, on all aspects of our cooperation, both in the economy and in culture. Our views do not always coincide, but I'm absolutely convinced that we should expand our contacts to understand each other better."

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting: 

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon,

I'm very glad to see in Moscow such a representative delegation of the European People's Party. You have the biggest representation in the European Parliament, and I'm very pleased about the development of inter-parliamentary and inter-party dialogue.

United Russia has established contacts with many European colleagues. I believe that work with EP MPs is the most promising line of cooperation in Europe.

Our relations with Europe have been developing steadily. Our trade set a record \\$300 billion in the past year. Russia ranks third in the exports to EU countries, and is the fourth biggest importer of their goods.

Every year, we buy more than USD 107 billion worth of goods, and we are fully aware of what this means in practice. It means that the level of cooperation and mutual dependence is growing.

I'm referring not only to energy but also to other directions of economic cooperation. This means that our efforts are not in vain. They are being transformed in the social sphere and are creating jobs, an enormous number of jobs. It would be no exaggeration to say that the number of jobs is enormous.

This applies both to the EU's leading economies and the countries that have joined the EU quite recently. It goes without saying that we have traditional long-standing economic ties with these countries. Needless to say, these economic ties require political support. This concerns not least of all the EP and its MPs.

We are closely following EP debates on Russia's problems, on all aspects of our cooperation, both in the economy and in culture. Our views do not always coincide, but I'm absolutely convinced that we should expand our contacts to understand each other better. We should expand and deepen them. We should conduct a more objective discussion, proceeding from facts and a clear understanding of the ongoing processes, on unbiased information rather than the media's unverified data.

I'm sure that your visit to Russia will promote a positive development of our relations.

We are very pleased to see you.

Joseph Daul, EPP-ED Group President (as translated): Mr Prime Minister, first of all, I would like to thank you for receiving us today.

You have covered a lot of ground. I have nothing to add on this subject. We are facing a big task - we should work together to improve our relations. I'm convinced that the EU and Russia have many topics for discussion.

Ms Merkel, Mr Berlusconi and many other prominent politicians work in the EU. We'd like to create the conditions for political dialogue and stability in Europe. This is a very important task. We want Europe to advance without excessive self-confidence and apprehensions.

Europe is campaigning for global peace. I'm from Alsace and when I talk about Europe, I'm always overwhelmed with emotions because the EU founders, such as Mr Schuman, also came from Strasbourg. They suffered immensely from the horrors of the war, and they were the ones who founded Europe that has lived in peace for more than 50 years.

We are interested in developing cooperation with Russia in the field of security, energy, and the economy in general. We must be partners. We are partners already but we should continue our dialogue to better understand each other. Our colleagues with whom we discussed practically the whole range of issues can confirm this. I'm sure that we should continue our joint efforts on this basis.