Russian news agencies and media have highlighted Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh’s visit, which is being made at the invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev.

During his stay in Russia , Party leader Manh met with President Medvedev at the Grand Kremlin Palace to discuss a wide range of issues regarding bilateral cooperation, particularly in the power sector, the Kremlin announced on July 9.

The two sides focused their discussions on measures to boost cooperation in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas as well as the operation of the Vietsovpetro joint venture.

They shared viewpoints on the promotion of political dialogues at all levels to bolster strategic partnership between the two countries.

Prospects of the bilateral cooperation at numerous forums and events in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Russia-ASEAN summit were also mentioned at the meeting.

The Kremlin’s announcement counted a number of visits by the two countries’ leaders, including the visits to Russia by Party General Secretary Manh in October, 2002, by State President Nguyen Minh Triet in October, 2008 and in May, 2010 and by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in December, 2009 as well as the visits to Vietnam by former President Vladimir Putin in 2001 and 2006. The two countries always attach much importance to the exchange of high-level delegations, it stressed.

Russian President Mededev will visit Vietnam by the end of this year and attend the Russia-ASEAN summit in Hanoi , the Kremlin said.

On the occasion, Russia ’s ITAR-TASS and RIA-Novosti news agencies both underlined that the Vietnamese Party chief was awarded the Pushkin medal by President Medvedev for his contributions to boosting the bilateral relations./.