Developing relations with Vietnam is a priority in Russia’s Asian foreign policy, said the Russian Ambassador to Vietnam.

Ambassador Andrey G. Kovtun said it will meet the two countries’ interests and benefit the Asia-Pacific region, at a press briefing in Hanoi on December 28 to report on the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership in 2012.

The ambassador congratulated the Vietnamese people on the 40th anniversary of the “Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the air” victory (December 1972-December 2012).

Commander of the Russian Air Force, Lieutenant General V.N. Bondarev, will attend a grand ceremony to celebrate the event on December 29, he said.

Kovtun noted that the Vietnam-Russia relations continue to develop, encompassing many fields with new cooperation orientations.

During 2012, the two sides implemented large-scale agreements.

According to Kovtun, their developing political dialogue relations affirmed the two countries’ determination to continue improving bilateral ties.

Besides high-ranking visit exchanges, collaboration between ministries and cooperation in trade and economics have seen positive outcomes, he added.

Between January and October this year, bilateral two-way trade was 3.11 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 40 percent. Of the total, Russia’s export accounted for 1.23 billion USD.

However, each country’s potential is not yet fully utilised, said the ambassador. More efforts are required to reach the target of 7 billion USD by 2015, he added.

Cooperation in energy, telecommunications, culture-education, tourism, and science and technology has developed extensively, he said.

Kovtun announced that negotiations for the Free Trade Agreements between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will start in early 2013.-VNA