Vietnam and Russia agree to invest over $10 billion in 20 projects.

On the afternoon of June 29th local time (evening of the same day in Hanoi time), at the Kremlin in Moscow, President Tran Dai Quang and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin held a private meeting and talks with the participation of high-level delegations from both countries.

President Tran Dai Quang and President V. Putin. Photo: VNA

President Tran Dai Quang and President Vladimir Putin exchanged views and agreed on many measures to promote bilateral cooperation in a range of fields, expressing their determination to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

Promoting comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Russia.

Satisfied with the results of economic and trade cooperation in the past period, the two leaders agreed that both countries need to strive to continue maintaining the positive growth momentum of the current bilateral trade relations, commensurate with the good political relations between the two countries; and strive to achieve the goal of increasing trade turnover to 10 billion USD by 2020.

Both sides agreed to cooperate closely to effectively implement the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect in October 2016, in order to maximize the advantages the agreement offers to expand economic, trade, and investment cooperation; create favorable conditions for businesses of both countries in import and export activities, including promoting the signing of agreements on food safety control; strengthen trade promotion activities; and expand the use of local currency for payments.

President Tran Dai Quang held talks with President of the Russian Federation V. Putin. Photo: VNA.

Both sides agreed to actively and effectively implement priority investment projects in the two countries, including joint oil and gas projects in Vietnam and Russia, and a light industrial park project in Moscow province.

Both sides affirmed their commitment to continued close and effective cooperation in the field of defense and security, especially in military technology; and agreed to expand cooperation in other promising areas such as science and technology, education and training, culture, tourism, labor, and cooperation between localities.

The Russian side affirmed its commitment to continued close cooperation with Vietnam to ensure the success of APEC Year 2017 in Vietnam. President Tran Dai Quang respectfully invited President Vladimir Putin to pay an official visit to Vietnam and attend the APEC Summit. President Vladimir Putin sincerely thanked him and happily accepted the invitation.

Do not use force or threaten to use force in the South China Sea.

Discussing recent complex developments in the South China Sea, the two leaders agreed that border and territorial disputes, including those in the South China Sea, should be resolved peacefully, without the use of force or the threat of force, based on respect for international law, primarily the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and the early development of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).

The two leaders agreed that the visit of the Vietnamese President to Russia would create new momentum to promote comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Russia.

President Tran Dai Quang and President V. Putin witnessed the signing ceremony of the Cooperation Agreement between the Vietnam News Agency and Sputnik News Agency. Photo: VNA.

Signing of numerous important documents.

Following the talks, President Tran Dai Quang and President Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of several important documents: the Regulations on the Operation of the Vietnam-Russia High-Level Working Group on Priority Investment Projects; the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and Rosatom Corporation on the construction of a Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Vietnam; and the Agreement between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Federal Financial Supervisory Service of Russia on combating money laundering obtained through criminal activities and combating terrorist financing.

A cooperation agreement between the Vietnam News Agency and Sputnik news agency; a memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation between the State Treasury and the Federal Treasury of Russia; a cooperation program in the field of aerospace between the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and the state-owned space corporation Roscosmos for the period 2017-2022; a plan of activities to implement the cooperation agreement between Vietnam Railways Corporation and the Russian Railways Open Joint Stock Company; and several other cooperation documents were also signed within the framework of the visit.

Later that afternoon, President Tran Dai Quang and President Vladimir Putin met with international journalists to announce the results of their talks.

President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the leaders of the two countries have expressed particular interest in cooperation in the economic and trade sectors, especially in the context of the Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam, which came into effect at the end of last year, contributing to boosting trade between the two countries.

Through this agreement, Vietnamese manufacturers have the opportunity to access the Russian market and other Eurasian countries. Investment between the two countries has also increased significantly - Russian investment in Vietnam is approximately $2 billion, while total Vietnamese investment in Russia is $2.5 billion.

The two sides have agreed to invest more than $10 billion in 20 priority projects between the two countries, and $500 million in promising projects in new fields such as agriculture and medicinal plants.

President Vladimir Putin emphasized that oil and gas remain a priority area in cooperation between the Russian Federation and Vietnam. The VietsoPetro joint venture currently extracts about one-third of the total crude oil produced in Vietnam.

The two leaders agreed to continue supporting the Russian Federation's supply of liquefied natural gas, fuel, and gas to the Vietnamese market. In addition, regarding prospects in the electricity sector, Russian companies are ready to participate in the modernization of Vietnamese power plants and cooperate in the construction of new power projects.

The two leaders also reached an agreement on the construction of a Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Vietnam; a joint venture for assembling automobiles by the Russian Federation in Vietnam; and cooperation in the field of railway construction.

The leaders of the two countries agreed to designate 2019 as the Year of Vietnam in the Russian Federation and the Year of the Russian Federation in Vietnam.

Regarding international and regional issues, President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the Russian Federation is committed to strong cooperation with Vietnam in international and regional organizations, and continues to promote similar views and positions with Vietnam on regional and international issues. The Russian Federation highly appreciates Vietnam's role as Chair of APEC 2017 and supports Vietnam in successfully hosting the APEC Summit in November this year.

President Tran Dai Quang affirmed Vietnam's consistent policy of always valuing and prioritizing the consolidation and strengthening of the comprehensive strategic partnership with the Russian Federation, developing Vietnam-Russia cooperation in an effective, substantive, and sustainable manner across all fields, meeting the interests of the people of both countries, and contributing to peace and common development.

In this spirit, the President announced that the two sides had reviewed the implementation of current key cooperation projects and considered the possibility of implementing new cooperation projects; they agreed to strengthen cooperation in industrial sectors such as automobile assembly and manufacturing, energy, oil and gas, and infrastructure construction.

According to Vietnamnet.vn