Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi on May 15.

During the meeting, which was held in a friendly, trust and totally-mutual understanding atmosphere, Dung informed his host of the outcomes of the talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and exchanged views on the real situation and orientations for bilateral cooperation in order to develop the strategic partnership in a practical and effective manner.

Regarding politics – external relations cooperation, the two sides agreed to enhance relations of high trustworthiness through the exchange of delegations, especially those at the highest level.

The Vietnamese side highly valued Russian affirmation in its new foreign policy concept toward Vietnam as a prioritised partner in the region. The Vietnamese side affirmed that Russia is Vietnam’s important partner, adding that Vietnam will make every effort with Russia to expand bilateral comprehensive links in various realms, on the basis of enhanced and trustworthy political relations.

The PM also informed President Putin of the East Sea situation and pledged to create all possible favourable conditions for Russian oil and gas companies to expand operations in the continental shelf and offshore Vietnam in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

President Putin said Russia attaches much importance to the maintenance of peace and stability in the East Sea and hopes relevant parties settle the East Sea disputes on the basis of international law.

As for economic cooperation, the two sides shared their opinions that two-way trade remains modest and unmatched with potentials. The signing of a free trade area agreement between Vietnam and the  Union of Customs will contribute to raising two-way trade to 10 billion USD by 2020.

Dung and Putin stressed that energy cooperation is one of top priorities between the two nations. The Russian side will actively continue oil and gas exploitation activities in Vietnam’s continental shelf as well as encourage the two countries’ joint ventures to expand cooperation in Russia .

In the field of nuclear power, they vowed to closely work on building the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant as scheduled, based on the state-of-the-art technologies to ensure safety, quality and the best efficiency.

Speaking highly of military technology cooperation, the two sides committed to gradually strengthening the ties in a comprehensive manner, especially joint production and maintenance of weapons and armed materials to meet cooperation demand in the new situation.

Both leaders also reached a consensus on working closely in education – training, and science-technology. Dung thanked the Russian side for providing training for Vietnamese officials.

Dung conveyed President Truong Tan Sang’s invitation for President Putin to visit Vietnam in the coming time. Putin accepted it with pleasure.

After the meeting, Dung witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group and Rosneft Corporation on searching, surveying and exploiting oil and gas in Russia, Vietnam and the third countries.

The same day, Dung and his entourage left Sochi city for the Republic of Belarus, concluding their official visit to Russia at the invitation of Prime Minister Medvedev.

In a Joint Communiqué issued after the visit, the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Russia underscore that the lifting of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership level has created a strong driving force for the development of bilateral cooperation in the new historical period. The two Governments will work closely and ask ministries, departments and localities to comprehensively deepen cooperation in various areas.

The communiqué wrote that the two sides agree to increase political dialogues, further bolster the relations through party, State, Government and legislature channels as well as between ministries, departments and peoples of the two nations.

Leaders of the Vietnamese and Russian Governments agreed to take measures to boost two-way trade to 7 billion USD by 2015 and 10 billion USD by 2020.

The two sides will negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement covering trade, investment, services and issues of mutual concern, based on flexible principles, development goals, the balance between demand and interest in line with common international practices and the World Trade Organisation’s regulations.

They highly valued bilateral cooperation in nuclear energy and attached special importance to the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Vietnam.

Vietnam and Russia are unanimous in furthering collaboration in national defence and security in the spirit of agreements reached by the two countries’ leaders.

The two PMs affirmed their determination to implement the high-level agreements reached by President Truong Tan Sang and President Vladimir Putin under a Joint Communiqué in July 2012 on accelerating the Vietnam – Russia comprehensive strategic partnership in foreign policies as well as boosting coordination in international arena, contributing to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia – Pacific region and the world.

During PM Dung’s visit, the two sides signed a tourism cooperation plan between the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Agency for Tourism of Russia and a cooperation programme between the Vietnamese and Russian Ministries of Justice for the 2013-2014 period.

The two sides agreed that that PM Dung’s visit to Russia has make important contributions to advancing the Vietnam – Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.-VNA