Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung (R) meets with Leonid Ivanovich Kalashnikov, member of the Presidium – Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on March 12 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Russian should continue making greater efforts and creating favourable conditions for the comprehensive development of bilateral economic cooperation as the recent growth has not matched their potential and expectations, said Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung.
Deputy PM Dung made the suggestion at a reception in Hanoi on March 12 for Leonid Ivanovich Kalashnikov, member of the Presidium – Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who is on a working visit to Vietnam.
The Deputy PM affirmed that Vietnam has always been grateful to the former Soviet Union and the current Russian Federation for its assistance during the past struggle for national independence and construction as well as the present cause of industrialisation and modernisation.
The two nations have established comprehensive strategic partnership and reaped great achievements in cooperative relations, thereby contributing remarkably to national construction and development, he said.
Deputy PM Dung stressed that cooperation within the framework of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-governmental Committee has developed strongly in many fields, especially in the spheres of economy, trade, investment and energy.
Since the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement took effect on October 5, 2016, two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia has been growing rapidly, reaching 3.56 billion USD in 2017, up 29 percent over the previous year, he noted.
The Deputy PM went on to say that Russia has to date registered to invest almost 982.9 million USD in 117 projects in Vietnam, ranking 22nd among countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian country.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has poured investments in 18 projects in Russia with a combined registered capital of 2.4 billion USD, he added.
Kalashnikov promised to spare no effort to develop relations between senior leaders of the two Parties and strengthen cooperative relations between the two nations, especially in the fields of economy, trade, investment, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges.
At the meeting, the two officials also discussed a range of measures to further enhance bilateral cooperation in the automobile, banking and tourism industries.-VNA
VNA
