OREANDA-NEWS.  Transcript: Dmitry Medvedev: Ladies and gentlemen, Business Council chairmen and members. I’d like to say a few words at the beginning of our conversation.

First, thank you for coming for this meeting. I’m grateful to you for inviting me to this meeting with Brazilian business circles with the participation of a number of business people from Russia. I’d like to say right away that my visit to Brazil is going very well. Yesterday I had intensive and productive talks with President Dilma Rousseff and co-chaired a meeting of the High-Level Commission with Vice President of Brazil Michel Temer. We discussed different issues, including some that are probably of interest to you. We spoke about trade and economic cooperation, projects on science and technology and humanitarian issues.

We have stated that relations between our countries are growing stronger. Even in the years that I visited Brazil several times, the changes that have taken place are clear. We proceed based on the premise that these relations amount to a strategic partnership. We maintain productive cooperation across the most different platforms, including those that are vital for business – G20 and BRICS. We are not just shaking hands or patting each other on the shoulders. We discuss specific issues. Sometimes we hold BRICS summits before G20 meetings to consolidate our positions. I think this is important, all the more so as we are also establishing new integration associations, such as the Customs Union, with our neighbours Kazakhstan and Belarus. Naturally, Brazil is also actively cooperating with its Latin American partners in MERCOSUR (the Southern Common Market) and UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations). So in this context we should also share our impressions on the integration processes.

We have important points of contact, such as joint preparations for sports competitions, including the Olympic Games and the world football championships that take place in our countries. But we share similarities not only because we are hosting so many competitions. We have much in common, including the role of our economies in the development of global economic processes.

In fact, even our economic problems are similar. I remember 2008. I was watching with anxiety the dramatic fall of the Russian stock index. When I looked at what was happening in Brazil, the situation was absolutely the same, up to the numbers. Today our economic conditions are also fairly similar.