President Putin supports Vietnam's proposal to soon implement major projects
VOV.VN - Russian President Putin has affirmed that this visit to Vietnam is viewed as an important opportunity for the two sides to exchange and agree on measures to beef up cooperation across a variety of areas, especially economics and trade, science and technology, and energy.
At a meeting with President Putin held in Hanoi on June 20 as part of the top Russian leader’s state visit to Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Vietnam is always grateful to the people of the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation nowadays for their valuable support and assistance throughout its history, especially during the past struggle for national independence and reunification, as well as the current process of national defence, construction, renewal and socio-economic development.
The PM said he hopes that both countries to step up joint efforts and create a new momentum for their traditional friendship and all-around cooperation. He underscored the need to promptly deal with difficulties to augment the bilateral cooperation, especially in economy, trade, investment, and global integration, thereby deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.
President Putin highlighted Vietnam as a trustworthy and long-standing partner, noting that his visit is an important opportunity to discuss and agree on a score of measures to bolster cooperation in multiple fields, especially economy, trade, sci-tech, energy, people-to-people and humanitarian exchanges, toward consolidating the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.
To further promote economic cooperation, he underlined the need for both sides to improve the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, particularly the Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic-Commercial and Scientific-Technical Cooperation; soon agree on and implement the Comprehensive Plan for Vietnam-Russia Cooperation until 2030 and the list of prioritized tasks for 2024-2025; and increase financial and credit cooperation to facilitate trade and investment.
It is essential to capitalize on the advantages of the Eurasian Economic Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, Chinh emphasized, while asking Russia to continue removing trade barriers to facilitate bilateral trade, particularly the export of Vietnamese consumer goods and agricultural products to Russia. He also called for increasing the quota for Vietnamese rice exports and supporting access for Russian agricultural products to the Vietnamese market.
Regarding investment, both sides were supportive of the early implementation of Russia’s large-scale projects in Vietnam, particularly in infrastructure, railways, urban metro systems, and renewable energy. They desired to offer favourable conditions for businesses from both countries to expand their activities effectively.
Emphasizing oil-energy cooperation as a cornerstone of the bilateral economic cooperation, PM Chinh proposed close coordination and timely solutions to tackling difficulties and improving the efficiency of joint projects in oil exploration and exploitation.
He affirmed Vietnam’s readiness to support operations of the joint venture Vietsovpetro and Russian oil companies like Zarubezhneft and Gazprom in expanding their activities in Vietnam.
Both sides also backed expanding cooperation to new, clean, and renewable energy sectors, such as liquefied natural gas and offshore wind power, to contribute to sustainable development goals.
They pledged stronger collaboration in sci-tech, information and communication technology, culture, sports, tourism and labour.
They backed the enhancement of the teaching and promotion of Vietnamese and Russian languages in each country through cultural centres. Chinh suggested Russia support in training Vietnamese athletes in areas like gymnastics and chess. Both sides will initiate negotiations and sign a new agreement on labour and vocational training.
The Vietnamese cabinet leader asked Russian leaders and authorities continue supporting the Vietnamese community living in Russia.
Regarding global and regional issues of shared concern, the two leaders vowed to continue working closely together at multilateral forums, including the UN, ASEAN and APEC. President Putin acknowledged Vietnam's objective and balanced stance on the Ukraine issue.
Vietnam supports the settlement of disputes and differences via peaceful measures in line with international law and the United Nations Charter, taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties involved, for the sake of peace, stability and development in the region and the world, adding that Vietnam is ready to join international efforts to seek peaceful and sustainable solutions to the Ukraine issue, Chinh went on to say.
On the East Sea issue, the two sides voiced their support for the settlement of disputes through peaceful means in line with international law and the UN Charter, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation; full enforcement of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) towards soon achieving an effective and practical Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.
