General Secretary Nong Duc Manh left Hanoi on July 8 for an official five-day visit to Russia at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

This is Party leader Manh’s second official visit to Russia since October 2002.

Vietnam and Russia celebrate the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in 2010. The two countries’ strategic partnership which was set up in 2001 have been accelerated in various fields and their diplomatic relations has been constantly promoted, with the visits to Russia by State President Nguyen Minh Triet in 2008, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2009 and especially the recent visit by State President Triet for the 65th anniversary of victory against fascism.

The two countries’ economic and investment cooperation has recorded progresses, with two-way trade posting an annual average increase of 15 percent and reaching more than 1.8 billion USD in 2009 despite the global economic crisis’ impacts.

The 13 th session of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation that took place in October 2009 decided to raise bilateral trade to 3 billion USD in 2010 and to 10 billion USD in the following ten years.

Russia now has 67 foreign direct investment projects in Vietnam with a combined registered capital of 755.1 million USD, ranking 23 rd among the 91 countries and territories investing in the country. Russia ’s projects mainly involve in oil and gas, manufacturing and processing industries. The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group and Russia ’s leading petrol groups, including Zarubezhneft and Gazprom, have signed a number of agreements on cooperation not only in Vietnam but also in Russia and third countries.

Vietnam ’s investment in Russia has increased over recent years, from 12 projects totalling around 100 million USD to 18 projects capitalised at 1.7 billion USD at present. The projects specialise in oil and gas, banking, commerce and services.

Positive developments can also be seen in the two countries’ cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, tourism and other fields as well as between their localities. Russia is among the countries that have helped Vietnam in training important human resources. It pledged to grant more than 300 scholarships to the country every year.

The two countries hold regular cultural exchanges, including “Culture Days” which has helped boost mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Vietnam started to grant visa exemption for Russian tourists for their stay of less than 15 days as of Jan. 1, 2009. The nation has become an attractive destination for Russian tourists.

There are 60,000-70,000 Vietnamese in Russia .

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh’s on-going visit to Russia aims to enhance the two countries’ high-level political dialogues and confirm Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance and diversification and multilateralisation of international relations, with priorities given to the development of the traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and strategic partnership with Russia and promoting cooperation between the two countries’ parties./.