The Vietnamese Party, State and people always attach importance to consolidating and developing the comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, said General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong. 

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong (right) and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin

He made the statement at a reception for visiting Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin in Hanoi on December 24. 

The host highly valued V.V. Volodin’s official visit as well as cooperation between legislatures, States and people of the two countries. 

Lauding efforts of the Vietnamese National Assembly and the State Duma in signing an agreement on the establishment of an inter-parliamentary cooperation committee, the leader expressed his hope that the committee will work effectively, contributing to promoting the bilateral legislative ties and cooperation between Vietnam and Russia across fields, firstly economy, trade and investment. 

For his part, V.V. Volodin showed his delight at his first-ever visit to Vietnam and extended greetings of President V. Putin and other Russian senior leaders to Party General Secretary and President Trong. 

Recalling the Vietnamese leader’s visit to Russia last September, he affirmed that the State Duma always supports enhancing the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. 

V.V. Volodin briefed the host on outcomes of his talks with NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, saying the formation of the inter-parliamentary cooperation committee helps intensify cooperative mechanism between the two legislatures while strengthening the bilateral ties in economy, trade, culture and education. 

Through the committee, the two sides will coordinate in supervising the implementation of major joint projects and agreements reached by their senior leaders, he said. 

The State Duma will actively participate in activities marking the 25th anniversary of a treaty on basic principles for bilateral friendship in 2019 and the 70th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties in 2020, the guest affirmed.

V.V. Volodin is paying a two-day official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of NA Chairwoman Ngan.

Parliamentary cooperation – important pillar of Vietnam-Russia ties

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (right) and visiting Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin 

The top legislators of Vietnam and Russia have agreed that the parliamentary cooperation is one of the important pillars of the partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and visiting Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin reached the consensus during their talks in Hanoi on December 24.

The collaboration between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma in particular and the Federal Assembly in general has developed fruitfully over the past time, both bilaterally and multilaterally, they said.

The two sides have actively implemented a cooperation agreement signed in 2013, while regularly maintaining the exchange of high-ranking delegations and those of the legislatures’ agencies and friendship parliamentarians’ groups as well as sharing experience in legislation and supervision, thus improving the operational efficiency of each country’s parliament. They have also coordinated with and supported each other at multilateral parliamentary cooperation mechanisms.

The State Duma Chairman said the two countries’ parliamentary ties should continue to be fostered. The two sides need to create a new foundation in the legislation field in order to create a momentum for the bilateral relations to further thrive in the future.

Sharing the outcomes of his meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Russian guest said the two sides exchanged views on several projects and experience in building e-government and the digital economy. He affirmed that the Russian side is ready to support Vietnam in these fields.

The leaders agreed that tourism cooperation between the two countries has seen gigantic development, with increases in the numbers of Russian visitors to Vietnam and Vietnamese arrivals to Russia. 

According to the State Duma Chairman, in 2017, 512,000 Russians visited Vietnam and the figure rose to over 700,000 this year. Russia is expected to be named in the top 10 sources of visitors to Vietnam.

Russia is also willing to provide more scholarships to Vietnam to train Russian language teachers in high schools, in addition to 1,000 scholarships provided for Vietnamese students, he added.

NA Chairwoman Ngan spoke highly of Russia’s increase of scholarships for Vietnam, expressing her belief that this is an important human resource for Vietnam as well as a firm foundation for the closer friendship between the two nations in the future.

She thanked the Russian people for giving their good sentiments and valuable assistance to Vietnam during the national construction and defence.

Vietnam always treasures and prioritises consolidating its comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, and wishes to bolster the effective cooperation between the two countries and their localities in all fields, she said.

Both host and guest agreed with pleasure that the bilateral political ties have been continuously consolidated via the regular exchange of all-level delegations. They expressed their belief that together with the Russia visit by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong in September and the visit to Vietnam by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in November, this visit by the Chairman of the State Duma will create a strong driving force to boost the two nations’ all-round collaboration. 

The top legislator used the occasion to thank Russia for backing Vietnam’s run for non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure. 

Both noted with pleasure progress made in the bilateral economic, trade and investment ties since the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) took effect in October 2016, with two-way trade reaching 3.55 billion USD in 2017 and 3.85 billion USD in the first ten months of this year. 

NA Chairwoman Ngan suggested the two countries fully tap potential for economic, trade and investment cooperation, making it match with the sound political relations, optimise advantages generated by the Vietnam-EAEU FTA, and remove non-tariff barriers, especially those against farm produce and seafood. 

The affiliation in energy, especially oil and gas, should continue to be an important pillar of the Vietnam-Russia cooperation, she said, lauding the plan to expand collaboration between oil and gas companies of the two countries in such spheres as liquefied natural gas (LNG), electrification and motor fuel production, she said. 

She added that the two countries hold substantial potential for cooperation in the high-tech sector, covering e-Government building in Vietnam and the development of the global navigation satellite system (GLONASS). 

Achievements have also been recorded in partnerships in national defence and security, military technology, education-training, science-technology, culture and tourism, the leader said. 

She stressed Vietnam’s support for the initiative to establish the inter-parliamentary cooperation committee between the Vietnamese NA and the State Duma, and expressed her belief that the committee will operate effectively, contributing to enhancing coordination between the two legislatures.

Host and guest agreed that the committee will meet annually in rotation except one of them has other suggestions. The first meeting is slated for 2019 in Vietnam. 

V.V.Volodin invited Ngan to pay an official visit to Russia at an early date. The Vietnamese top legislator accepted the invitation with pleasure. 

Following their talks, the leaders signed an agreement on the establishment of the inter-parliamentary cooperation committee, which aims to promote cooperation between the two legislative bodies. 

It is also expected to create conditions for the two sides to exchange experience in legislation, supervision and decision making on major national matters and join hands in inter-parliamentary activities within international organisations and conferences, covering cooperation in Asia-Europe. 

The committee will also work to help expand and enhance cooperation between Vietnam and Russia across fields and assist the supervision of the implementation of valid international treaties between the two countries.

At their joint press conference later, Ngan said the State Duma delegation’s visit is very significant and a continuation of visit exchange to bolstering the extensive cooperation between the two countries and their legislative bodies, adding that it marks a new development step in the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

She said the Vietnamese National Assembly and the State Duma will do their utmost to support the bilateral cooperation across the fields and provide a favourable legal framework to step up the trade, economic, investment, and tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges at all levels.

“The outstanding result of this visit is the signing of an agreement on the establishment of the inter-parliamentary cooperation committee between the National Assembly and the State Duma. The Vietnam National Assembly has for the first time formed such a bilateral inter-parliamentary mechanism with another parliament,” said Ngan.

“The new mechanism demonstrates the political trust between the two countries’ leaders as well as the determination to boost the parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. It will allow the two countries to increase their partnership in fields with potentials, especially the parliamentary cooperation, thus taking the two country’s traditional cooperation to the next level,” she added.

The State Duma Chairman added that the inter-parliamentary cooperation committee is a new cooperative form that will create more impetus for the development of cooperation between the two sides in various fields, including the digital economy. It will become a new platform to seek new cooperative fields for the two countries in the future.

As Vietnam and Russia have involved in the comprehensive strategic partnership, the relations between the two parliamentary agencies need to be boosted so it will contribute to promoting friendship, mutual understanding and trust, he said.

 “We are working towards implementing agreements reached by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President V. Putin in September, 2018 and those between Prime Ministers Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Dmitry Medvedev. The two countries’ parliaments need to step up the development pace of the bilateral ties using the existing cooperative forms and work together to seek for new cooperative modes,” the State Duma leader said.

At noon, Chairwoman Ngan hosted a banquet in honour of the State Duma Chairman V.V. Volodin.

Earlier on December 23, the State Duma delegation laid a wreath at the Monument for Martyrs, paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum, and visited the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site in Hanoi.

PM: Vietnam, Russia hold potential to boost trade, investment ties

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc shakes hands with Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted cooperation opportunities for Vietnam and Russia to boost trade and investment ties at a reception in Hanoi on December 24 for Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin. 

The Government leader noted with pleasure that the particularly reliable political relationship between Vietnam and Russia have been maintained and strengthened through the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially those at the high level.

PM Phuc believed that the ongoing official visit to Vietnam by Volodin will contribute to the enhancement of the bilateral relationship. 

Many corporations and businesses of Vietnam want to invest in Russia, he said, expressing his hope that Russia’s investment projects in the fields of infrastructure development, energy and transport in Vietnam will be successfully carried out.

The PM urged ministries and agencies of Vietnam and Russia to closely coordinate and effectively in implementing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union in a bid to realize the target of 10 billion USD in two-way trade by 2020. 

The two sides need to actively remove non-tariff barriers, especially for agricultural and aquatic products, he said. 

PM Phuc suggested the State Duma urged Russian agencies to allow more Vietnamese firms to export seafood to the Russian market in accordance with provisions of the above-mentioned FTA as well as of the World Trade Organisation and international practices.

Energy cooperation, especially oil and gas exploration and exploitation, continues to be an important pillar of the Vietnam-Russia cooperation, he stressed, affirming that Vietnam supports and is willing to create favourable conditions for Russian oil and gas enterprises to operate effectively in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese leader expected that the State Duma and Volodin to support this strategic cooperation. 

PM Phuc thanked the Russian side for helping Vietnam train human resources and hoped the country to increase the number of scholarships granted to Vietnam to 1,000 per year, and boost cultural exchanges and support each other in tourism promotion.

He appreciated the effective support from the State Duma and Volodin for boosting cooperation between localities of the two countries, and expected the State Duma to continue serving as a bridge between Vietnamese and Russian localities on the basis of signed agreements.

PM Phuc suggested the State Duma and Government of Russia to assist Vietnam in building an e-Government, and create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live and do business stably in the country.

Having spoke highly of cooperation between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the State Duma, the PM applauded the exchange of all-level delegations between the two parliaments, saying that this has contributed to enhancing coordination and sharing of information and experience in law-making and supervision, well as promoting the implementation of bilateral cooperation agreements.

For his part, Volodin held that the relationship between Vietnam and Russia has developed positively, and high-level meetings have contributed to fostering the bilateral ties. 

He proposed a meeting in Moscow between Vice Chairman of the State Duma  Ivan Мelnikov and Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh with Vietnamese enterprises and overseas Vietnamese in Russia to seeking ways to remove difficulties and obstacles facing them. 

Volodin emphasised the need to establish a legal foundation, which he said that it is very necessary to develop an e-Government, adding that the Russian side is ready to work closely and share its experience with Vietnam in this field.

According to the chairman, Vietnam has become an attractive destination for Russian tourists. In 2017, the number of Russian visitors to Vietnam exceeded 512,000, representing year-on-year increase of 30 percent. The figure is expected to hit 700,000 in 2018.-VNA