As part of its foreign policy, Vietnam has always and will continue to consider Russia a reliable and leading partner, said General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee (CPVCC) and President Nguyen Phu Trong at a reception for visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Hanoi on November 19.

The top leader affirmed that the Vietnamese Party, State, and people have maintained great attention towards consolidating and developing the comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia.

He expressed his wish that Russia would enhance collaboration with Southeast Asian nations and improve its role and position in the Asia-Pacific region.

He stressed that Vietnam welcomes Russian businesses and will continue to create favourable conditions for them to engage in key projects in Vietnam in the fields of energy, transport, and oil and gas.

The Party and State leader suggested the Russian Government actively coordinate with its Vietnamese counterpart to remove difficulties for economic-trade and investment cooperation and effectively implement large-scale joint projects agreed at the recent 21st session of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-Government Committee.

For his part, PM Medvedev, who is also head of the ruling United Russia Party, asserted that his country has always paid heed to fostering its comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam, considering the country its leading partner in Southeast Asia.

Informing the host of the outcome of his talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Medvedev said the two governments will coordinate closely with each other to organise activities throughout 2019 as the two nations celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the treaty on the fundamental principles of Vietnam-Russia friendship and prepare for the 70th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2020.

Russia and Vietnam will realise the agreements reached during CPVCC General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Russia last September.

Regarding the relations between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the United Russia Party, the leaders said they are pleased with the development of the ties over the past time, saying the relationship through the Party channel is an important political foundation to bolster the two countries’ bonds.

They agreed to strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two parties in the time ahead, including the continued implementation of the political dialogue mechanism and their cooperation plan for 2018-2021.

Vietnam, Russia seek ways to bolster partnership

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev discussed measures to further promote partnership between the two countries in various fields during their talks in Hanoi on November 19 as part of the latter’s official visit to Vietnam.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev 

PM Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s consistent policy of treasuring and prioritising its traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia.

PM Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia considers Vietnam as one of its most important partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

The two leaders shared their delight at the strong political trust between Vietnam and Russia, with regular meetings and delegation exchanges at all levels, especially those of a high level.

They agreed to coordinate closely in organising the Vietnam Year in Russia and the Russia Year in Vietnam in 2019 and 2020, on the occasion of 25 years since the signing of the Agreement on Basic Principles for Vietnam-Russia Friendship and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties.

The two PMs hailed the outcomes of the 21st meeting of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-Governmental Committee on economic-trade and science-technology cooperation in Moscow in late October 2018.

They held that the economic, trade, and investment partnership between the two countries has grown dynamically over the past years, along with the effective implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union.

To bring into full play benefits brought by the agreement, both sides promised to coordinate and gradually address barriers on the import and export of goods, especially agro-fishery-forestry products, with the aim to raise two-way trade to 10 billion USD by 2020.

The PMs conveyed satisfaction with the results of oil and gas cooperation, considering it one of the important pillars in Vietnam-Russia collaboration. They vowed to continue facilitating oil and gas exploration and exploitation on Vietnam’s continental shelf and Russia’s territory, and encouraged the expansion of cooperation in other fields such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas power supply.

Both agreed to step up large-scale projects in the fields of energy, industry, transport, agriculture, and expand collaboration in information, digital technology, and e-Government.

They affirmed their commitment to carrying out a 350-million-USD Nuclear Science and Technology Centre, while encouraging cooperation to develop urban transport infrastructure and railways in Vietnam.

The two leaders reached a consensus on the importance of security and defence cooperation; on the intensifying of collaboration in the fields of science-technology, culture, tourism, education-training, and labour; as well as on the advancement of partnerships between their localities.

PM Phuc took the occasion to thank Russian leaders and authorised offices for helping the Vietnamese community in the country, hoping for their continued support.

The PMs also exchanged views on different regional and international issues of mutual concern and stressed the need to maintain peace and stability. This involves ensuring aviation and navigation security, safety, and freedom in the East Sea towards solving disputes peacefully on the basis of respecting international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, and working towards the early signing of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea.

Both sides affirmed to maintain coordination at multilateral forums, foster cooperation within the framework of the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting, and the ASEAN-Russia cooperation, for the interests of the two peoples, and for peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

They expressed their belief that the outcomes of the visit will contribute to boosting the bilateral relations in all fields.

PM Medvedev took the occasion to invite PM Phuc to visit Russia in the coming time. The Vietnamese leader accepted the invitation with pleasure. 

National Assembly helps take ties with Russia to next level

Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) welcomes Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev 

The National Assembly of Vietnam always supports the country in developing the relations with Russia and will complete the legal framework to take the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to the next level, said Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Ngan made the statement while meeting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Hanoi on November 19.

“Vietnam always treasures its ties with Russia, regarding it as a top priority in its foreign policy,” she said.

She showed her delight to see PM Dmitry Medvedev, who made important contributions to fostering the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in a sustainable and dynamic manner.

She said Vietnam highly values Russia’s important role and positive contributions to maintaining peace, stability and development in the world.  

The leader was happy with the outcomes of the talks between the two PMs, saying together with the official visit to Russia by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in September, the official visit by PM Medvedev will generate a new impetus for the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

The leaders agreed that bilateral trade remains modest compared with the respective country’s potential and advantages.

Ngan expressed her hope that the two governments will work together to promptly unlock hurdles for trade and investment activities.

Meanwhile, Medvedev said the two countries are able and have a lot of favourable conditions to accelerate their investment and trade as Vietnam is one of the first countries that signed a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union and wanted the sides to actively carry out joint projects in energy, agriculture, and hi-tech industry as mentioned in the talks.

At the meeting, Ngan said the NA of Vietnam has always maintained its close cooperation with law-making bodies in Russia and at multilateral parliamentary forums.

Medvedev spoke highly of the role of the parliaments in creating legal foundations for boosting the two countries’ ties and expressed his hope that they will continue their sound relations, providing a basis for the bilateral ties to grow across the board.

VNA