Vietnam places importance on boosting ties with Russia

At a February 21 reception for President of the Federal Council of Russia Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko in Hanoi, President Quang expressed his hope that both nations will make breakthroughs in economic and trade cooperation in 2017, urging the two sides soon early reach consensus on priority areas of cooperation for the year.

Vietnam considers energy cooperation with Russia as a strategic field and greatly valuates the effective operation of the joint ventures Vietsovpetro and Rusvietpetro, as well as contributions by the two countries’ petroleum industries to bilateral economic relations, Quang told his guest.

The State leader suggested the two sides should coordinate closely to effectively implement the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union, thus fully tapping advantages brought by the deal to expand export and investment to each other’s markets.

Vietnam wants to bolster cooperative ties with Russia in the fields of security-defence, education-training, culture, tourism and science-technology, as well as affiliation between localities, President Quang said.

Chairwoman Matvienko, in turn said the Federal Council and parliamentarians will do their best to contribute to strengthening bilateral relations with Vietnam.

She underlined the need for both sides to bolster cooperation , thus elevating two-way trade to US$10 billion by 2020 from last year's figure of US$2.7 billion.

Russia wants to import more Vietnamese farm produce, she stated, noting that Russian localities have closely cooperated with Vietnamese counterparts, especially in the fields of trade, investment, culture, and education-training, Matvienko noted.

The Russian legislator expressed delight at the growing cooperation in tourism as 430,000 Russian holidaymakers visited Vietnam last year.

The same day, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Nga also received the Russian legislator during which she reiterated that Vietnam always prioritises reinforcing and developing the comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia and wished to enhance effective coordination between the two countries, legislatures and localities. 

Praising mutual support at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations, Ngan asked Russia to back Vietnam’s bid to run for a seat at the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021, and expressed her appreciation for joint actions between the two parliaments at international parliamentary forum, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union and other forums. 

She shared her view with her guest that two-way trade is growing robustly towards the targeted US$10 billion by 2020. 

The Vietnamese NA leader thanked the Russian law-making body for adopting a memorandum of understanding on oil and gas cooperation to facilitate the operation of the joint venture between VietsovPetro and RusvietPetro.

Matvienko for her part expressed her delight at the maintenance of regular political dialogues at all levels, particularly at parliamentary, ministry and agency levels. 

Russia treasures the development of bilateral economic and investment ties, she stated, adding that Vietnam has become the first country to sign a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), opening a new opportunity to accelerate economic-trade links and facilitate Vietnam’s access to goods from EEU and vice versa, she told Ngan.

Positive results have also been recorded in cultural cooperation as Vietnam Cultural Days were regularly launched in Russia as were Russian Cultural Days in Vietnam. Over 300,000 Russians visited Vietnam in 2016, and the figure will rise in the future. 

Highlighting partnership between the two countries’ localities as an effective cooperation channel, Matvienko suggested the friendship parliamentarian organisations of the two nations make a report on the efficiency of their joint work. 

On education-training, more than 50,000 Vietnamese experts have so far been trained in Russia, which also considers increasing scholarships to Vietnamese students. Last year, Russia offered 1,000 State scholarships to Vietnamese students, ahead of the 2018 deadline. 

Both sides agreed that the regular exchange of delegations between the Vietnamese NA and the Federal Council of Russia will make it easier for furthering the bilateral ties. The two law-making bodies will create more favourable conditions to expand ties across energy, oil and gas, agriculture, industry and tourism while intensifying the supervision of cooperation agreement realization. 

Vietnam supports Russia’s active involvement in projects in the country, Ngan said, adding that she agreed with Matvienko’s proposal to review signed and adopted agreements and issue a document to effectively realise the FTA between Vietnam and the EEU. 

The two countries’ friendship parliamentary groups will be assigned to oversee the implementation of signed agreements. 

She proposed the Russian legislature back the signing of an agreement on food safety control between the two governments, making it easier for Vietnamese firms to export agro-fisheries products to Russia. 

The NA Chairwoman wished for increased bilateral collaboration across national defence-security, education-training, science-technology, culture-tourism and fields of Russia’s strength and Vietnam’s demand. 

Following the talks, host and guest met the press to inform the outcomes of their discussions. They confirmed their determination to unceasingly strengthen and foster the relations between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Federal Council of Russia.

In the afternoon the same day, Ngan hosted a banquet in honour of the Russian guest and her delegation.