Viet Nam, Russia to lift co-operation

President Nguyen Minh Triet receives Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Khang

The agreement was announced during a meeting between President Nguyen Minh Triet and visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Ha Noi.

Both sides agreed that co-operation in economics, trade and investment had not yet reached its full potential.

The two leaders said co-operation did not reflect the level of the strategic partnership enjoyed by Viet Nam and Russia.

The two countries plan to raise bilateral trade turnover to US$3 billion in 2012 and $10 billion by 2020. In the first eight months of this year, trade turnover stood at $1.17 billion.

Both leaders acknowledged that economic and trade co-operation had improved leaps and bounds, particularly in oil and gas and atomic energy in recent years. They said they were delighted at the signing of an inter-Government agreement on building a nuclear power plant in Viet Nam and the establishment of Rusvietpetro, a joint venture between PetroVietnam and the Russia oil group Zarubezhneft, and which has struck oil in Russia's Nenesky region.

Leaders also stressed the importance of strengthening long-term military technical co-operation and expanding co-operation in education and training, culture, science and technology.

Medvedev said Russia was interested in building infrastructure projects, modernising railways and telecommunications and investing in high-tech projects in Viet Nam.

During talks, the two leaders said they were pleased with positive developments of the traditional friendly relations, comprehensive co-operation and the two countries' strategic partnership.

Good political relations had continued to strengthen through the regular exchanges of delegations at different levels, they said.

The two sides said they believed the results of the Russian President's visit to Viet Nam would contribute to consolidating and strengthening Viet Nam-Russia co-operation.

After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of agreements on building a nuclear power plant in Viet Nam, energy co-operation and mutual protection of intellectual property rights in military technology, among other things.

Later they held a press conference on the results of their meeting.

Triet emphasised that Viet Nam-Russia traditional friendly relations and strategic partnership were of significance to both countries. Relations had increasingly grown and been expanded into various areas, he added.

In addition, the two sides reached an agreement on implementing the next stage of the Vietsovpetro join-venture project. Russia also committed to implementing oil and gas co-operation projects in Russia, Viet Nam and other countries.

Regarding economic, trade and investment co-operation, Triet said he and the Russian President had discussed setting up a free trade area among Viet Nam, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in an attempt to raise bilateral trade turnover to $3 billion in 2012 and $10 billion in 2020.

Medvedev said relations between Viet Nam and Russia were steadfast and would stand the test of time.

He pledged to do his utmost to boost relations with Viet Nam.

Australian PM

President Nguyen Minh Triet called on the Australian Government to speed up co-operation in a wide range of areas and to strengthen co-ordination in the control and prevention of trans-national crimes.

Triet made the appeal during a reception for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday.

He said the two countries needed to step up co-operation in politics, economy, trade, national defence and security, culture, education and labour while controlling and preventing terrorism and drug trafficking.

Australia was an important partner and friend of Viet Nam,Triet stressed.

He asked the two countries to strengthen co-operation, exchange delegations and share information to serve the interests and development of the two countries and the region, and to maintain contacts and visits between top and ministerial leaders of the two countries.

The President expressed delight at the fine development in Viet Nam-Australia comprehensive partnership and thanked the Australian Government and people for supporting Viet Nam in its national building and development process, especially in the granting of official development assistance (ODA).

Australian Prime Minister Gillard congratulated Viet Nam for its excellent fulfilment of its duties as the chair of ASEAN in 2010.

She told Triet that the recent signing of the Viet Nam-Australia Action Programme would be a premise for the two countries to develop greater comprehensive co-operation in the time to come.

The Prime Minister said she hoped the Vietnamese Government would continue to create favourable conditions for Australian investors, which would contribute to developing co-operation in economy, trade and investment on par with the potential and desires of each country.

Gillard also took the opportunity to express her deep sympathies over the losses of life and property in the recent flooding in the central region.

Graduates

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev received a warm welcome with rounds of applause and smiles from hundreds of Vietnamese people who have studied or graduated from Russia during a meeting with them yesterday in Ha Noi.

Lai Van Sam, who graduated from a Russian school in 1981, said that the President had a very busy schedule during this visit to Viet Nam but still insisted on having this meeting with Vietnamese people who studied in Russia.

Medvedev said he was deeply moved to see many faces who once lived and studied in his country. "I saw many Vietnamese students in the 70s when I was still a little boy," he said, adding that now he was very happy to know that many of them had become leaders in Viet Nam.

During the one-hour meeting, which was conducted entirely in the Russian language, the President spent most of his time answering questions raised by the Russia alumni.

Many of the alumni present were those who were supervised by Medvedev's father Anatoly Afanasevich Medvedev when he was working as a professor at the Leningrad Institute of Technology.

"I'm very happy to have a chance to meet the President today because Russia has always been in my heart," said Giang Quoc Tuan, who graduated from a college in Moscow in 1975. "I went there when Viet Nam was still at war. My Russian teachers and friends treated me like family and I will never stop feeling grateful to them," he added.

Vu Xuan Hong, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Viet Nam Friendship Organisations Union, said tens of thousands of Vietnamese students had received an education in Russia. Among them, many later became the country's top leaders, including former President Tran Duc Luong, former National Assembly chairman Nguyen Van An and former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan. — VNS