President Tran Dai Quang (left) and Russian President Putin (Photo: VNA)The Deputy FM said that President Quang’svisits, spanning from June 26to July 1, markeda strong progress in the increasingly practical partnershipwith the two traditional and promising partners.
The visits were the first ones made by the President to the twocountries since he took office in 2016, which coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Russia October Revolution, the 25th anniversaryof the Vietnam-Belarus diplomatic ties, and the fruitful period of the Vietnam-EurasianEconomic Union free trade agreement.
At meetings with President Quang, Russian leaders affirmed that thecountry considers Vietnam one of the priorities in the Asia-Pacific region and iskeen on boosting cooperation with Vietnam in all fields, he noted.
The President also held meetings with representatives of the businesscommunity, localities, the Russia-Vietnam Friendship Association and Russianveterans who spent time in Vietnam who expressed their wish to contribute tofurther tightening the Vietnam-Russia ties.
Meanwhile, Belarus leaders, especially President A. Lukachenko, highlyvalued the traditional relationship with Vietnam, regarding the Southeast Asiannation as a trustworthy partner in Southeast Asia.
The two sides shared hope and determination to deepen their friendshipand cooperation and lift the ties to a new height.
During the visits, Vietnam signed 14 cooperation agreements with Russiaand nine deals with Belarus in various fields, including economy, defence,security, sports and tourism, natural resources and environment,science-technology and cooperation between localities.
According to Son, following the visits, Vietnam and Russia issued ajoint statement, while President Tran Dai Quang and his Belarusian counterpartA. Lukashenko signed a joint declaration on the comprehensive and extensivedevelopment of the bilateral partnership.
President Tran Dai Quang and Russian and Belarusian leaders agreed tooptimize the advantages of the Vietnam-EAEU free trade agreement to create astrong boost to economic-trade collaboration, targeting 10 billion USD in tradewith Russia and 500 million USD with Belarus by 2020, he said.
Vietnam and Russia concurred to focus on increasing investment and setup joint ventures, while effectively implement prioritised cooperation projectsin oil and gas, energy, machinery manufacturing and automobile assembling, andexpanding collaboration to agriculture, transport infrastructure building, andtelecommunication.
At the same time, Belarus is willing to cooperate with Vietnam in areasofVietnam’s demand, including automobile assembling, infrastructure building,IT, chemicals and agriculture. The Vietnam-Belarus automobile assemblingjoint ventureMAZ Asia is scheduled to become operational in late 2017.
The Deputy FM went on to say that during the visits, the Vietnam-Russiaand Vietnam-Belarus economic seminars were successful, showing businesses’ determinationto tap opportunities from the Vietnam-EAEU free trade agreement.
Vietnam and Russia agreed to continue strengthening cooperation inatomic energy, affiliation among localities, and partnership in education andtraining as well as organising Russian Culture Days in Vietnam in 2017.
Vietnam and Belarus shared the wish to bolster cooperation inscience-technology, culture, education-training, ICT and connections amonglocalities.
Both countries also pledged to coordinate closely with Vietnam atmultilateral mechanisms.
Son also stressed his impression at a meeting between President Tran DaiQuang and war veterans and experts of Russia and Belarus who devoted theiryouth to Vietnam. President Quang said Vietnam is always grateful to the peopleof Russia and Belarus for their whole-hearted support.
During his stay, President Quang paid special attention to theVietnamese communities in the host countries, added Son.-VNA
VNA
