Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Russian President Putin have emphasised the priority to develop cooperation in energy with focus on oil and gas and nuclear power during their talks in Sochi city, Russia, on November 25.

The two leaders agreed to fully implement existing projects, launch new ones and facilitate Vietnamese and Russian state oil and gas companies to operate in their respective territories.

They decided to increase cooperation in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Vietnam’s continental shelf in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS-1982), while speeding up negotiations for a deal of expanding and modernising the Dung Quat oil refinery.

In the field of nuclear power, the Russian side affirmed to continue training Vietnamese staff and it is willing to admit Vietnamese citizens to study the nuclear major at its universities.

The two sides stressed the need to continue expanding the exchange between their authorised agencies on building a national nuclear safety system in Vietnam.

They consented to promote collaboration in building the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear plant and accelerate the project on the construction of a nuclear science and technology in Vietnam.

During the talks, the two leaders highly valued the development of the two countries’ cooperation in all fields, especially high-level agreements reached in recent years, while affirming the policy to further strengthen the relations between the two ruling parties.

They appreciated the role of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-governmental committee on economics-trade and science-technology cooperation and its subcommittees and working groups in preparing and implementing cooperation projects and programmes.

They expressed their pleasure with the progress of negotiations on a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and the implementation of the list of prioritised tasks in the bilateral ties.

Vietnam welcomed the Customs Union member countries in fulfilling their procedures to facilitate the treaty on Eurasian economic union to come into effect in January 1, 2015, which is expected to contribute to ensuring sustainable economic development in the region and the world.

The two leaders also agreed to take specific measures to boost friendship and cooperation and promote all advantages to bring two-trade to 7 billion by 2015 and 10 billion USD by 2020.

Both sides stressed the need to enhance and diversify affiliation in finance, including the use of payment cards and domestic currencies in foreign economic payments as well as promoting the involvement of the Vietnam-Russia Bank in bilateral oil-gas and energy projects and the International Investment Bank as financial sources for industrial and infrastructure projects that are in need of long-term credit.

The two sides also affirmed to continue cooperating in various fields such as mining, machinery manufacturing, defence and military technology, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, education, culture, sports, tourism and people-to-people exchange.

The leaders acknowledged contributions by the Vietnamese and Russian citizens living and working in their respective countries in maintaining and promoting traditional friendship, mutual assistance and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. They vowed to create favourable conditions for both citizens in line with the host’s law.

Host and guest discussed and reached high consensus on international and regional issues of shared concern, affirmed their coordination at international forums and stressed the role of the Vietnam-Russia ties in the Asia-Pacific region and other cooperation mechanisms such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), East Asian Summit (EAS) and Asia-Europe Summit Meeting (ASEM).

Regarding territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific region, including the East Sea issue, the two sides emphasised the settlement by peaceful measures in line with the UN Charter and the UNCLOS-1982 to maintain peace, stability, freedom, security and safety of navigation in the region. They supported the full implementation of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC) towards the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

At the end of the talks, host and guest witnessed the signing of nine cooperation documents between the two countries, including the government agreement on strategic partnership in education and science-technology.

Later the day, the Party leader met with the Vietnamese community in Krasnodar.

VNA/VNN