Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on October 15 met with visiting Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov who came to Vietnam to attend a session of an intergovernmental committee.

The Vietnamese Government leader hailed the 16 th session of the Vietnam-Russia Intergovernmental Committee for Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, which aims to prepare for the upcoming visit to Vietnam by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Underlining the sound traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Russia , PM Dung suggested both sides discuss concrete measures to enhance future areas of cooperation as agreed by high-ranking leaders, striving to get four billion USD in two-way trade this year.

In addition to enhancing bilateral cooperation in education-training and oil and gas, the PM asked both sides to speed up the implementation of their key projects, especially the construction of a nuclear power plant in the central province of Ninh Thuan .

He hailed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan , and called the Russian government to facilitate the negotiation process for an early conclusion which will contribute to promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation among the signatories.

He said he hopes the Russian side will continue supporting Vietnamese community in the country, who are contributing to the common development of Russia and serving as a bridge to bring Vietnam and Russia closer together.

The Russian guest affirmed that his country treasures its cooperation with Vietnam in all fields, especially in economics, trade, investment, education and training, security-defence, science-technology, and oil and gas.

He added that his government pledges to speed up the FTA negotiations between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Russia .

He told the host that cooperation documents in trade, investment, education-training and science-technology are all ready in preparation for the upcoming visit to Vietnam by Russian President Vladimir Putin./.