MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Enrique Pena Nieto on officially taking office as Mexican president on Saturday, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.
“In his congratulatory message Vladimir Putin stressed that Mexico is an important Latin American partner for Russia. He also expressed his satisfaction with how Russian-Mexican trade, economic, R&D, and humanitarian relations are developing,” the statement reads.
The message makes special mention of successful cooperation between Russia and Mexico at multilateral forums. Putin, whose country assumed the rotating presidency of G20 on December 1, also praised the results of Mexico's presidency in the group in 2012.
Nieto replaced Felipe Calderon, who has ruled the country for 12 years of an interregnum for the Institutional Revolutionary Party which has governed Mexico for 71 years.
Nieto, 46, has held a variety of posts in the Mexican government in the last decade including a state governorship. He won the presidential election in July with 38.21 percent of the vote.