OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2009. The President congratulated Mr Hariri on the completion of the process of forming Lebanon’s new government.

The Lebanese Prime Minister thanked Mr Medvedev for the meeting and said he hoped to improve bilateral cooperation between Russia and Lebanon.

Beginning of Meeting with Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri:

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr Prime Minister, I am pleased to have this chance to meet with you. Despite the late hour, we are both here in Copenhagen to work, and I hope that we can discuss not only climate issues but also our bilateral relations.

I congratulate you on having completed the process of forming a new government cabinet, and on the fact that all institutions of government are now active. I hope that this will help us to build good and solid relations between our countries.

PRIME MINISTER OF LEBANON SAAD HARIRI (as translated into Russian): Thank you very much, Mr President, for this opportunity to meet. The fact that you have agreed to meet with us at such a late hour confirms that you personally and the entire Russian leadership take an interest in our country and want to develop our bilateral relations.

We are aware, of course, of how busy you are with various subjects, including climate issues, but we also know that Russia has always stood by our country in both easy and difficult times, and we hope that the future will inject new vigour into our bilateral cooperation.