Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- The following is the speech made by Russian President Dmitri Anatoliyevich Medvedev at the banquet given in honor of General Secretary Kim Jong Il visiting Russia:

Respected Your Excellency Kim Jong Il,

Respected friends,

The working-level meeting between me and Your Excellency Kim Jong Il, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, is just over.

Allow me to offer my thanks to you for having an effective exchange of views on the urgent bilateral and international issues and welcome all the guests from the DPRK to Russia once again.

The good neighborly relations between our two countries have a solid foundation. This is not merely because of geographical proximity and long-standing bilateral relations.

The cooperation between Russia and the DPRK has great potential.

To realize cooperation between the two countries will bring a lot of benefits including not a few economic fruits to our two peoples.

Today I and Your Excellency Kim Jong Il agreed to further political dialogue and comprehensively develop working cooperation.

There is great possibility of cooperation for us in the educational and cultural fields, too.

The Russian center has already operated in Pyongyang for the last three years and students of the DPRK are studying and having training programs at universities of Russia.

Art groups of Russia made ceaseless performance tours of the DPRK and it has become a tradition for them to participate in the April Spring Friendship Art Festival.

The contacts between the regions of the two countries have become more brisk recently.

Documents on establishing sister relations between various cities of Russia and the DPRK are in the making.

Cooperation among Russia, the DPRK and the Republic of Korea in carrying out the grand plans in the fields of infrastructure and power has a great prospect.

I am convinced that to realize this cooperation would be beneficial to all our three countries and have a positive impact on providing favorable environment for dialogue and confidence-building between the DPRK and the ROK.

It is our common task to put an end to the confrontation between the north and the south that has lasted for more than half a century, I think.

We will in the future, too, contribute to seeking political and economic solutions to turn the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia into regions in which durable peace and security are settled.

Respected friends,

Hoping you will have good impressions during your stay in Russia, let me propose to toast to the good health of respected Your Excellency Kim Jong Il, chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK, and to the good health of all those present here and to the well-being and prosperity of the peoples of the DPRK and Russia.