While receiving representatives of Russia’s leading economic groups in Moscow on December 14, Mr Dung noted that effective cooperation between the two business communities will not only bring practical benefits to themselves but also help expand the Vietnam-Russia strategic and comprehensive cooperation partnership.

Vietnam attaches great importance to developing traditional friendship and strategic partnership with Russia, in the long-term interests of the two nations and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the rest of the world, said Mr Dung.

He praised the two business communities for their efforts to promote investment cooperation and implement agreements between Russian groups and their Vietnamese counterparts such as the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, the Vietnam Coal and Mining Industries Group, the Electricity of Vietnam Group and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam.

Mr Dung held that both Vietnam and Russia have great potential for increasing cooperation in all areas, especially in economics, trade and investment. He called on the business communities to fully tap the potential to bring practical benefits to both sides.

He welcomed their initiative to establish a US$500 million investment fund, a strategic agreement between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group and Russia’s leading oil and gas group - Gazprom, as well as other cooperation deals in energy and mining.

Russian businesses said they are keen to expand investment cooperation in banking, oil&gas, mining, energy, construction and automobile manufacturing in Vietnam.

The same day, Mr Dung attended an inauguration ceremony of a Vietnam-Russia Bank branch in Moscow. This is a wholly Vietnamese invested branch which has a chartered capital of RUB210 million.

The branch, which will use both Vietnamese and Russian currencies (VND and RUB) in transactions, is expected to meet the goal of raising two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia in 2010 to US$3 billion.

On December 16, Mr Dung is scheduled to meet with Russia President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The two countries will sign a number of key cooperation agreements in the presence of PMs Dung and Putin.