General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong had a phone call with Russian President Putin

On behalf of the Party, State and people of Vietnam, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong congratulated President Putin and the Russian people on the occasion of National Day, June 12, affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to the comprehensive strategic partnership with the Russian Federation and highly appreciates the great achievements that the Russian Federation has achieved under the leadership of President Putin.

On this occasion, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong also congratulated the Russian people on the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Fascism, affirming that the Vietnamese people always remember and cherish this historic victory, expressing his belief that the upcoming parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Fascism and the upcoming referendum on constitutional amendments in Russia will be a great success.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong had a phone call with President Putin. Photo: Chinhphu.vn

In the spirit of trust and openness, typical of the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and President Putin also discussed many important cooperation contents between the two countries, as well as a number of international and regional issues of mutual concern.

General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong shared his condolences over the losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and welcomed the drastic measures and contributions of the Russian Federation to the international community's common fight against the pandemic.

For his part, President Putin highly appreciated Vietnam's successful control of the COVID-19 epidemic and thanked Vietnam for sharing and providing practical support to the Russian Federation in this fight. In that spirit, the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in preventing the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as affirming continued attention and timely support for citizens of both countries.

General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and Russian President Putin assessed that the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has continued to have many strong developments in recent times. In the context of the two countries celebrating many important events, including the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1950 - 2020), the two leaders agreed to continue to maintain regular contacts at all levels, especially high-level contacts, and coordinate to organize meaningful activities within the framework of the Vietnam-Russia Cross Year 2019 - 2020 in a manner appropriate to the current situation.

The two leaders also affirmed that defense, security and energy are important pillars of Vietnam-Russia cooperation, agreeing on the need to further promote cooperation in these areas. In that spirit, General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and Russian President Putin agreed to continue supporting and encouraging oil and gas companies of the two countries to expand and participate in new projects in Vietnam and the Russian Federation. The two sides will continue to facilitate trade and investment cooperation, maximize the potential of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a member, in order to soon achieve the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover to 10 billion USD, creating favorable conditions for the two countries in economic development and overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussing international and regional issues of mutual concern, the two leaders highly appreciated and agreed to strengthen Vietnam-Russia cooperation at multilateral forums, coordinate to promote peace, security, cooperation and international law in the world, as well as in the region. General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed that in his capacity as ASEAN Chair in 2020, Vietnam will strive to promote ASEAN-Russia cooperation. For his part, Russian President Putin highly appreciated and expressed his belief that Vietnam will successfully assume the role of ASEAN Chair in 2020, as well as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term.