Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov has been appointed as chairman of the Russian subcommittee of the Russia-Vietnam Intergovernmental Committee for Economic-Commercial and Scientific-Technological Cooperation. 

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Maxim Akimov (Photo: RIA Novosti)

Deputy PM Akimov will replace Deputy PM Igor Shuvalov to hold the post, the Russian Government announced on August 13.

Akimov has worked as a member of the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and Priority Projects since June 2016.

Vietnam and Russia established diplomatic relations in 1950 and decided to elevate the relationship to the level of strategic partnership in 2001 and then to comprehensive strategic partnership 11 years later.

Political ties between the two nations with a high level of trust have been enhanced through the regular exchange of delegations and bilateral meetings at all levels, and via the mechanism of consultation and strategic dialogue. 

Vietnam-Russia economic, trade and investment ties have enjoyed dynamic development. After the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union officially came into effect in October 2016, the trade value between the two countries has grown strongly, reaching 5.3 billion USD in 2017. The two nations are striving to lift the bilateral trade to 10 billion USD by 2020.

In terms of investment, besides the cooperation in the field of oil and gas, as of June 2018, Russia has 117 direct investment projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of nearly 1 billion USD. Meanwhile, Vietnam is operating 22 investment projects worth nearly 3 billion USD in Russia.-VNA