VietNamNet Bridge – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has emphasised that the leaders and people of both Russia and Vietnam have to share the task of maintaining and promoting valuable, close and fraternal traditional ties and reliable partnership that have been established between the two countries.

The Prime Minister has recalled the brotherhood sentiments, hospitality, and heartfelt sincerity that he felt from Vietnamese people as well as immense changes he had witnessed during the previous visits to Vietnam while expressing pleasure to make his third visit to the country on November 6-7.

Medvedev has made these remarks and talked about other issues during an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam Television (VTV) and Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) on the threshold of his upcoming visit.

He stressed that economic issues will be the focus of his discussions with Vietnamese leaders during the visit as economic-trade cooperation is yet to meet the two sides’ aspirations though having developed strongly and effectively in the recent time.

Besides that are bilateral cooperation in energy, mechanical engineering, aviation-space technology, information-telecommunication and humanity, he said.

Medvedev also emphasised discussions on the building of Russia-Vietnam cooperation structure with regard to the common developmental situation of the Asia-Pacific region when the two countries are playing significant roles in it. “We should not take no notice of the development of the Asia-Pacific”, he stressed.

He went on with specific measures to boost the two countries’ economic ties.

“It is good for both countries to set an ambitious target of raising our trade to 7 billion USD in 2015 from the current modest figure of around 3 billion USD as our task is to further raise the effectiveness of economic and trade cooperation on a par with our finely growing friendship and partnership,” the PM said.

To achieve this goal, the two countries will adopt new forms of cooperation based on their established traditional cooperative areas such as energy, mechanical engineering, science-technology, and military-technology, he said.

The Russian PM noted that military-technology cooperation not only helps with the growth of Russia’s defence-industrial consortium but also enables Vietnam to intensify its military power.

According to Medvedev, Vietnam and Russia should accelerate the speed of joint projects on energy.

In this field, the two countries have extended the operation of the Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture (Vietsopetro) to 2030 as well as defined new principles and development orientations together with ambitious targets for it. Vietsopetro’s products have brought incomes and benefits to both countries, he confirmed.

Russia’s oil and gas groups have attracted investment from Vietnam and invited Vietnamese businesses to cooperate in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in strategic mines, he said, adding that Vietnam has been prioritised in this field thanks to its strategic partnership with Russia and the development prospect of the ties in the future.

The Russian Government leader said he felt the application of high technologies in the energy sector has caught both countries’ interests at a time when the world is changing and technologies are rapidly advancing.

Therefore, he suggested both sides expand their cooperation in exchanging crude oil and gas products to processing fuel and energy, mentioning higher benefits that would be earned.

With this cooperation, in the future, the two countries can provide each other liquefied gas, especially the product rolled out from Russian factories operating in Siberia and the Far East , he said.

Regarding military-technological cooperation, the PM referred to the gigantic developments and further improvements in cooperation levels in the area over the past time.

“The two sides have restored the cooperation spirit that had ever existed in the Soviet Union time. Russia supports the promotion of that cooperation spirit and is willing to help Vietnam in training military experts and officers as well as in using military techniques on the basis of observing Russia’s international commitments,” he stressed.

The Russian Prime Minister gave high estimations of Vietnam ’s role and position in ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region, saying Russia has enjoyed a lot of favourability in its relations with Vietnam .

“Vietnam is developing strongly with great socio-economic potential and it is a time-honoured friend of Russia. All of these are significant to the future relations of our countries,” he said.

“Russia will do its utmost to strengthen the two countries’ positions in the Asia-Pacific region as well as other regional structures such as ASEAN,” he stressed.

Russia will enhance coordination of actions with Vietnam in implementing joint projects and seeking common views on the region’s issues.

“Russia plans to develop ties with Asian-Pacific countries and will join in discussions on all issues relating to the development of the region,” he underscored.

Vietnam and Russia boast time-honoured relations and this is very important for their future cooperation, Prime Minister Medvedev said.

VietNamNet/Vietnam Plus