PM and President Medvedev hold talks at G8

Saturday 26 June 2010

Prime Minister David Cameron has held his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as the two leaders attended the G8 Summit in Canada.
The PM and President Medvedev met on Friday evening to discuss a range of issues including the economy, the Middle East and Iran.
They agreed to stay in touch personally and said there was an opportunity to put their bilateral relationship on “a new footing”.
Speaking alongside President Medvedev after the meeting, the PM said:

“It has been a great pleasure to have this face-to-face meeting. We have spoken on the telephone and it has been good to have this meeting. As you say, I think there is a real opportunity to put the bilateral relationship on to a new footing, to try to make a stronger start and to work through the issues where we have agreement and those where we still have things to work through. But I think there is a lot of common ground on the economic issues we face and the challenges of dealing with deficits, getting our economies growing and more economic cooperation between our two countries.”

A Downing Street spokesman added:
“This was a constructive meeting which represented the first step towards a renewed relationship between UK and Russia. The Prime Minister made clear that there were still points of disagreement between the UK and Russia, and he specifically raised the death of Alexander Litvinenko. But the Prime Minister also stressed that the UK and Russia should work more closely together to build a better relationship focussed around the economy, climate change and academic co-operation.
“The two leaders also discussed a range of global issues, including the world economy ahead of the G20 Summit, the Middle East Peace Process and Iran. The Prime Minister and the President agreed that their Foreign Ministers would work closely together. They looked forward to William Hague’s visit to Moscow


Speeches and transcripts: Meeting with President Medvedev read below



Saturday 26 June 2010

Meeting with President Medvedev

A transcript of comments by Prime Minister David Cameron and President Dmitry Medvedev following their bilateral meeting at the G8 in Canada on 25 June 2010.

Read the transcript

President Medvedev
The Prime Minister and I discussed the current work of the G8 meeting, our plans for the G20 meetings, but what is important is we also talked about issues on our bilateral agenda. We agreed that certain changes must be made in our relations. We agreed for our foreign ministers to stay in touch and consult on all matters of the bilateral agenda, both on the government level. We also agreed that we will stay in touch personally.
We agreed that our bilateral relations require the personal attention of the leaders of the two countries, both in terms of economics and other issues. We are determined to make them more productive and more intense. I hope to establish closer cooperation on a whole range of issues as a result of the Canadian meeting. Now, already we have very close cooperation on certain foreign-policy issues and that helps a lot. And of course, I would like to wish the Prime Minister every success in tackling the very difficult task and the very difficult work to come, and to be very patient as he will have to take part in all sorts of international activities. There will be many of them.
Prime Minister
Thank you. It has been a great pleasure to have this face-to-face meeting. We have spoken on the telephone and it has been good to have this meeting.
As you say, I think there is a real opportunity to put the bilateral relationship on to a new footing, to try to make a stronger start and to work through the issues where we have agreement and those where we still have things to work through. But I think there is a lot of common ground on the economic issues we face and the challenges of dealing with deficits, getting our economies growing and more economic cooperation between our two countries.
We had a very good discussion about the Middle East peace process, about the challenges of Iran, about the challenges of Islamic radicalisation, some of the things that our countries face together. So I think it is very good to have this meeting, to have a stronger bilateral relationship. As we agreed, I said I would follow your Twitter feed now you are doing it, but I think we will also talk on the telephone and our foreign ministers are going to meet to work up a fuller agenda. I think that is very worthwhile, and I know you have given me good advice about being patient at international meetings. But I think it seems we are approaching the G8 and the G20 in a similar way; we have a similar idea of how these meetings could work in the future. So that has been a good discussion and a good meeting.