Hanoi (VNA) –President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang and Russian leaders will discuss the twocountries’ cooperation and measures to enhance ties during the Vietnameseleader’s visit from June 28 to July 1.

The information was provided by President Quangduring an interview with Russia’s TASS and Sputnik news agencies ahead of thetrip, his first official visit to Russia as President.

He said during the visit, he will convey therespect of the Vietnamese Party and people to President Vladimir Putin, PrimeMinister Dmitri Medvedev and other Russian leaders and people. He will alsoreiterate his country’s policy of considering Russia a trustworthy strategicpartner.

President Quang and President Putin, along withother Russian leaders, will discuss bilateral cooperation and specify measuresto foster ties in different areas, especially the implementation of the freetrade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), ofwhich Russia is a member.

The Vietnamese side will affirm that the countryalways provides the best possible conditions for Russian enterprises’ inVietnam. It will also ask Russia to continue collaboration in defence, security,science-technology, education-training, culture, tourism and labour, along withlocality-to-locality cooperation and create favourable conditions for theVietnamese community there.

The sides will exchange viewpoints on regionaland global issues of shared concern, including bilateral cooperation in APECYear 2017 and within the framework of ASEAN-Russia cooperation, he added.

The President expressed his delight at thegrowth of Vietnam-Russia relations since the establishment of diplomatic tiesin 1950 and the formation of a strategic partnership in 2001, which waselevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership in July 2012.

🉐[Vietnam, Russia hold strategic dialogue, political consultation]

Relations have been increasingly strengthenedthrough regular delegation exchanges and meetings at all levels, consultationsand strategic dialogues, he noted, adding that Vietnam welcomes PresidentPutin’s attendance of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Da Nang city laterthis year.

President Quang said the two sides havecooperated and supported each other at multilateral forums such as the UN,APEC, the Asia-Europe Meeting and ASEAN-Russia.

Their economic and trade connections have alsobeen developing. Oil and gas cooperation projects are being implemented in bothcountries and bilateral trade is growing, reaching 2.7 billion USD in 2016 – up25 percent from 2015. The figure increased by 30 percent to 1.1 billion USD inthe first four months of 2017. The expansion of the partnership in autoassembly and production also shows promise.

The leader said he values the fact that Vietnamis the first country with which the EAEU inked a free trade agreement. Hebelieves the effective enforcement of this deal will create new momentum fortrade between Vietnam and Russia, as well as between Vietnam and the EAEU withtargeted trade revenue of 10 billion USD by 2020.

Affiliations in defence-security,science-technology, education-training and culture-tourism have also beentightened. Cultural exchanges have been held regularly. Russia is one of the 10biggest sources of foreign tourists to Vietnam. More than 430,000 Russiantourists came to Vietnam in 2016, up 12.8 percent year on year.

President Quang said the Vietnam-Russiafriendship and comprehensive strategic partnership are developing soundly inall fields. Their cooperation potential remains huge, and they need to bolstercooperation and capitalise on both sides’ advantages, thus developing bilateralrelations in a more effective manner.-VNA