MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday made fun of an interpreter who apparently added a few points to his speech during a medical conference.
Speaking at the 4th European Congress of Pediatricians, Europediatrics 2009, Medvedev talked about the construction of perinatal centers in Russia and their state-of-the-art equipment, as well as achievements in reducing maternal and child mortality rates.
"Maternal mortality, since 2005 has been reduced by over 15%, child mortality by over 22%. We have very good birth rate indicators, especially among developed countries," he said.
After this part of his speech was interpreted into English, Medvedev said smiling: "It's very pleasant that the figures that I did not give in Russian have also been translated." The draft speech, which would have been read by the interpreter prior to the congress, probably contained information that there were over 1.7 million births in Russia in 2008.
After the interpreter translated an extra paragraph, Medvedev also joked at him: "You could have spoken of neonatal screening as well," which was met by applause from the audience.
Europediatrics 2009 runs July 3-6 in Moscow and is being held for the first time in Russia.
