The agreement was reached during a March 6 meeting between Deputy Minister of Defence Be Xuan Truong and Russian Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation Vladimir Nikolaevich Drozhzhov, who are chairmen of Vietnamese and Russian subdivisions, respectively, of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-governmental Committee on Military Technical Cooperation.

Welcoming Drozhzhov’s visit to Vietnam, Truong said Vietnam highly values the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Russia. The Russian official, for his part, extended his congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Centre, a scientific research organisation in Vietnam founded on March 7, 1988.

The centre was established by an agreement between Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence and the Russian Academy of Sciences to study biology, medicine, environmental pollution and treatment of dioxin effects in Vietnam.

It is a symbol of the good relations between the two nations, Drozhzhov said.

The two sides expressed their delight at the progress of Vietnam-Russia relations and appreciated the role of defence and military technical cooperation in the partnership.

Vietnam and Russia held the 19th meeting of their Inter-governmental Committee on Military Technical Cooperation in Hanoi on October 12, 2017, during which the two sides discussed and reached consensus on a military technical cooperation plan for 2018, and discussed the 2016-2020 military technical cooperation plan.-VNA