Here at the Kremlin today, we are paying tribute to people of exceptional valour, loyalty, and honour. I am pleased to congratulate you on receiving the well-deserved recognition and present you with Hero of the Russian Federation Gold Star medals. All of you have been rightfully awarded this distinguished title. Your service involves accomplishing combat missions and ensuring our forces advance in the most complicated localities and theatres of operations. It carries enormous risks and entails taking the immense responsibility for the personnel of the units entrusted to you, for your comrades in arms, and for the civilian population of our cities and villages.

What we are talking about here is laying the strategic groundwork for our future, about a priority sector that already shapes and will shape the country's competitive posture in the global market, the pace of its economic development, and the quality of life of our citizens. It is imperative that we focus all available development tools and frameworks on solving the tasks set.

I would like to emphasise that last year, trade between Russia and Africa continued to grow, increasing by 10 percent. However, trade and economic ties between our two countries undoubtedly require careful attention from both sides.

I sincerely hope we can reach agreements so that these ties gain additional momentum. There is strong potential and promising opportunities in this area, as many Russian companies are showing increasing interest in working in the Guinea-Bissauan market.