The visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin will help strengthen the time-honoured friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said.

Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong and Russian President V. Putin.

At a reception for the Russian President on November 12, Trong described his trip as fresh impetus to fostering the dynamic development of Vietnam-Russian traditional friendship and strategic partnership.

He affirmed Vietnam’s willingness to support Russian policy towards the Asian Pacific region and Southeast Asia including Vietnam and applauded Russia’s contributions to ensuring peace, security, cooperation and development in the region and in the East Sea.

The Party leader thanked Russia for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country to maintain their stable lives and serve as a bridge for the promotion of friendship between the two nations.

For his part, Russian President Putin hailed the results of bilateral cooperation and expressed his belief in bright prospects for wider cooperation in economics, trade, investment, security, defence, military technique, education-training, culture and tourism.

Russia attaches importance to developing comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam and regards the Southeast Asian nation as its priotized partner in the Asian Pacific region, the Russian state leader said.

He said he hopes under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Vietnamese people will reap still greater achievements in socio-economic development which will help raise its international status.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung and President Putin.

Putin invited Trong to visit Russia in the time ahead and his invitation was accepted with pleasure.

Meeting with the Russian State leader the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his visit will provide a springboard for further push up the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Vietnamese Government will do all they can to work with its Russian counterpart to implement properly all cooperation agreements as agreed, adding that the two governments should include these  agreements to the annual list of priorities, allowing the Inter-Governmental Committee to review the implementation of the agreements every year, Dung said.

He affirmed that his government will offer the best possible conditions for Russian cooperation in trade, investment and tourism in Vietnam.

The Government leader asked the Russian side to speed up negotiations for initiating a FTA between Vietnam and the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union by 2014 towards the official signing by 2015.

Russia should closely coordinate with Vietnam in the building of the first nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan using the most advanced technology to ensure safety, he noted.

Putin said Vietnam is Russia’s key Asian Pacific partner and spoke highly of the Vietnamese Government’s efforts in bolstering economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Both side need to fully exploit each other’s markets and maximize their efforts to bring two-way trade turnover to US$7 billion by 2015, he said.

Dung and his host agreed to boost cooperation in defence, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, energy, mining and education as well as maintaining closer coordination and mutual support at international forums.

Vietnam, Russia push for broader cooperation

State President Truong Tan Sang (R) welcomes his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The two State leaders have highlighted the upgrade of bilateral relations to a strategic partnership as fresh opportunities for promoting mutually beneficial cooperation across a variety of fields.

At a November 12 official welcome ceremony for Russian Vladimir Putin and his delegation, President Truong Tan Sang described their visit as a contribution to consolidating and developing the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

At their talks following the welcome ceremony, the two State leaders briefed each other on the political, socio-economic situation and external affairs in their respective countries and discussed international and regional issues of common concern.

Vietnam-Russia political relations are developing vigorously based on a high level of reliability, they said, stressing the need to maintain delegation exchange and expand cooperation between the parties, governments, legislatures, ministries, sectors and localities.

Despite achieving positive results in bilateral trade which is predicted to hit US$4 billion this year, economic, trade, investment cooperation is yet to match with their full potential as well as fine political relations.

It is imperative to make breakthroughs in trade and investment links with priorities given to the early signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union and the successfully implementation of  investment projects defined by the two industry and trade ministries’ high-level working groups, they noted.

Host and guest emphasized the need to place top priority on increasing energy cooperation including oil and gas exploration and exploitation and nuclear power and facilitating joint venture firms’ effective implementation of new projects in both nations.

They concurred to step up cooperation in building a nuclear power plant Ninh Thuan 1 with a focus on using the most advanced technology to safety and highest efficiency and highest quality and training nuclear experts.

The leaders affirmed their willingness to continue to work together on mining, transport (including civil aviation), shipbuilding, machinery manufacturing, communications and telecommunications.

It is essential to enhance result and efficiency-orientated cooperation between localities and study possibilities to work hand in hand in building a light industry zone in Russia’s Far East Region, they said.

They also agreed to further cooperation in defence and military technique, which has enjoyed high trust and conformed with regulations and principles of international law, helping ensure peace, stability and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.

They consented to beef up security cooperation, boost information sharing and consult on issues of mutual concern, work together in countering international terrorism and crime, and increase technical and training cooperation.

Both sides also agreed to adopt specific orientations and measures to carry out the policy of raising bilateral cooperation in science-technology and education-training to a strategic level.

They underscored the need to implement a project to set up the Vietnam-Russia University of Technology in Hanoi and improve the efficiency of the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Centre.

The two Presidents acknowledged the remarkable contributions by Vietnamese people living and studying in Russia as well as those by Russian citizens in Vietnam in preserving and promoting the traditional friendship, mutual support and comprehensive cooperation between the two States and their people.

They agreed to continue offering favourable conditions for Vietnamese and Russian people living in each other’s territory in line with the two countries’ laws and in the spirit of friendship and the comprehensive strategic partnership.

The two sides showed a high degree of unanimity in regional and international issues of common concern, affirming the continued strengthening of coordination in the international arena.

They emphasized the importance of Vietnam-Russia cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum as well as in regional structures in which ASEAN plays a core role such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting Plus (ADMM+), noting that it helps foster peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large.

President Putin invited President Truong Tan Sang to visit Russia in an appropriate time, which the latter accepted with pleasure.

After the talks, the two Presidents hold a press briefing and witnessed the signing of important cooperation documents in various fields—economics, trade, banking, national defence, oil and gas, healthcare and education which will provide an important legal foundation for lifting the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level in the time to come.