At the reception, Cuong emphasised that the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and the Russian Federation have continued to be consolidated and strengthened in recent years. Bilateral defence cooperation has been carried out effectively in a spirit of trust, practicality and comprehensiveness, serving as an important pillar of the overall relations between the two countries.

He noted that cooperation has recorded positive outcomes across various fields, including exchanges of delegations, particularly at the high level, training and education, cooperation among military services and arms, as well as scientific research within the framework of the Vietnam–Russia Tropical Centre.

Cuong also highly appreciated the important role of the Russian Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief in coordinating civil defence activities, disaster prevention and response, search and rescue operations, and humanitarian assistance, thereby contributing to ensuring national security and social stability in the Russian Federation.

He expressed his satisfaction with the effective cooperation between the two sides based on the 2001 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Vietnam National Committee for Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, and the Russian Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief, as well as the 2015 MoU between the Vietnamese committee and the Civil Defence Academy under the Russian ministry. Key cooperation areas include delegation exchanges, training, professional experience sharing, and participation in international exhibitions on rescue equipment held in Russia.

Looking ahead, the Vietnamese side expressed its wish that the two sides would continue to promote cooperation, focusing on the exchange of delegations at all levels, training programmes, sharing of experience in civil defence, disaster prevention and emergency management, and exploring search and rescue equipment.

On the occasion, Cuong invited high-level Russian delegations and defence industry enterprises to attend activities within the framework of the Vietnam International Defence Expo 2026.

For his part, Kurenkov welcomed the cooperation proposals put forward by Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence and spoke highly of the positive results achieved in bilateral cooperation in civil defence, disaster prevention and response, emergency management and search and rescue.

He noted that there remains considerable potential for further collaboration and expressed his hope that the two sides will continue to expand cooperation on the basis of mutual needs and interests, including sharing experience in deploying military medical forces in search and rescue operations, thereby contributing to further strengthening the Vietnam–Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.

Prime Minister urges closer ties between Vietnamese, Russian news agencies

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called for closer cooperation between the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Russian news agency TASS while receiving TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov in Hanoi on February 25.