Mr Minister, colleagues,

We are happy to welcome you to Moscow. This is our second meeting in 2016. Recently, last month, we met in Laos on the sidelines of ASEAN events. We are now meeting in Moscow, and I am very happy to see you. We maintain a good personal relationship that helps strengthen the contacts between our foreign ministries.

Certainly, our contact in a number of areas is not what it was due to external factors that have nothing to do with our bilateral relations. I hope that you and I will be able to discuss the prospects for resuming normal relations today, and I see New Zealand’s interest in this as well.

As always, we will be ready to exchange opinions on international issues in the Asia-Pacific region and in other regions of the world, especially considering the fact that New Zealand is currently a member of the UN Security Council where we cooperate closely; we are interested in exchanging these opinions.

Welcome once again.