Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il made a speech at the banquet given by Dmitri Anatoliyevich Medvedev, president of the Russian Federation, in welcome of his visit to Russia.

He said:

Respected Your Excellency President Dmitri Anatoliyevich Medvedev,

Close friends of Russia,

It gives me great pleasure to revisit Siberia and the Far East Region of Russia, a friendly neighbor, after the lapse of a decade and meet with you.

Allow me to express, first of all, my heartfelt thanks to you for traveling thousands of kilometers to come to Ulan-Ude from Moscow, the capital city, warmly greeting us and providing us with such meaningful place today.

It gives us particular pleasure to visit your country for the third time in the new century and see for ourselves the achievements made by your people in building powerful and modern Russia.

The Russian government and people are registering many successes in the work to bolster the defence capability of the country and achieve the modernization of economy and social and political stability and working hard to establish a fair international order against high-handed and arbitrary practices under your leadership.

It is our sincere hope that the efforts of the friendly Russian government and people to defend world peace and security and build rich and powerful Russia will bear good fruits.

The peoples of our two countries have given steady continuity to the history and tradition of friendship along with the placid flow of the River Tuman.

We are glad to see that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries have favorably developed in various fields recently.

To steadily develop in depth the history and tradition of the DPRK-Russia friendship entirely conforms with the interests of the two peoples and is of weighty significance in defending the peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

We are convinced that the summit meeting today will undoubtedly mark an important landmark in boosting the DPRK-Russia relations in line with the aspiration and desire of the two peoples and turning Northeast Asia into the region for peace and cooperation.

We will in the future, too, make every effort to boost the traditional DPRK-Russia friendly and cooperative relations.

In closing, I, availing myself of this opportunity overflowing with the friendship, would like to propose a toast to the strengthening and development of the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, to the good health of Respected Your Excellency President Dmitri Anatoliyevich Medvedev and to the good health of the dear friends of Russia and all those present here.