Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to Russia fromMay 20-23 demonstrates that Vietnam treasures the traditional friendship andcomprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, and wishes to strengthen the all-roundcooperation, especially in economy, trade and investment.

The visit takes place in the context that both nations willorganise the Vietnam Year in Russia and Russia Year in Vietnam in 2019 and 2020to mark the 25th anniversary of the treaty on basic principles for the bilateralrelations (1994-2019), and 70th anniversary of the diplomatic ties (1950-2020).

Russia is one of the first nations to recognise andestablish diplomatic relations with Vietnam on January 30, 1950, which has laid the foundation for the close friendship and comprehensive ties between the two countries.

Following efforts to develop the bilateral relations in the1990s, the countries set up their strategic partnership in 2001, and upgradedthe ties to the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2012.

Regarding cooperation policies and mechanisms, theyconsistently attach importance to and want to bolster bilateral collaboration based onequality and mutual benefits. They have set up and maintainedannual high-level meetings as well as close coordination at internationalforums, especially at the United Nations as well as ASEAN-led cooperationmechanisms.

Meanwhile, cooperation through party and parliamentarychannels has been promoted, contributing to the sound bilateral ties.

A wide range of dialogue and coordination mechanisms have beenmaintained, including annual deputy ministerial-level strategic dialogue onforeign affairs and defence-security and deputy ministerial-level dialogue ondefence strategy. Furthermore, they hold annual political consultations atdeputy foreign ministerial level and department level in the cooperationframework of the two foreign ministries. 

Both countries share the same viewpoint on variousregional and international issues, and supported each other at internationalforums like the UN, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Asia-EuropeMeeting and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Russia endorses Vietnam's position on settlement of disputes on the EastSea via peaceful measures based on international law, including the 1982United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and building the Code of Conduct inthe East Sea (COC) soon.

Over the pastyears, Vietnam and Russia have maintained the operation of the Inter-GovernmentalCommittee on Cooperation in Economy-Trade, and Science-Technology, which wasset up in 1992 and elevated to the deputy prime ministerial level in 2011.

Vietnam and membercountries of the Eurasian Economic Union,including Russia, officially inked a free trade agreement on May 29, 2015. Thepact came into force on October 5, 2016.

Progress has beenmade in two-way trade which increased from 2.7 billion USD in 2016 to 3.55billion USD in 2017 and 4.5 billion USD last year. In the first two months of2019, the figure stood at 790 million USD, up 9.4 percent year-on-year.

Vietnam’s majorexports to Russia include phones, garments-textiles, and agro-fishery products. Meanwhile, Russia ships petroleum, steel, fertilisers, machinesand equipment to the Southeast Asian nation.

As of February2019, Russia ranked 24th among countries and territories investing inVietnam with 127 projects worth over 950 million USD, mainly focusing onmining, oil and gas, and processing and manufacturing industry.

Vietnam has runmore than 20 projects in Russia with total capital amounting to nearly 3billion USD, with the Rusvietpetro joint venture, the Hanoi-Moscow culturaland commercial centre and farms of TH Groups being outstanding examples.

Energy has beenseen as a traditional, strategic, effective cooperation area between Vietnamand Russia, significantly contributing to the state budget of both countries.

Apart from Vietsovpetrojoint venture, Russia’s major oil and gas groups like Gazprom and Rosneft will deploymany projects on Vietnam’s continental shelf by 2030.

Meanwhile, Rusvietpetrois also carrying out another project in a Russian autonomous region.

Russia hasmaintained its support for Vietnam in personnel training, with its scholarshipsto Vietnamese students increasing from 345 in 2011 to about 1000 in 2018.Currently, more than 5,000 Vietnamese students are studying in the country.

Over the past time,the two countries have joined hands in science-technology and established tiesbetween their localities like Hanoi-Moscow and Ho Chi Minh City-St. Petersburg.

Humanitarianactivities and cultural exchanges continue to be a bridge between Vietnam andRussia, contributing to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship betweentheir people.

Russia has become oneof Vietnam’s ten biggest sources of tourists and the largest of its kind inEurope. The number of Russian holiday-makers to Vietnam rose from 176,000 in2012 to 606,000 last year.

Of note, people-to-peopleexchanges have helped to consolidate and develop the Vietnam-Russiacomprehensive strategic partnership.–VNA