Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 25 as part of the former’s official visit to Russia, according to a report released by the Government News.
The two leaders agreed on the need to continue strengthening political trust through the exchange of delegations at all levels across Party, State, Government, National Assembly, local, business and people-to-people channels; to effectively maintain existing cooperation mechanisms, including the Intergovernmental Committee on economic–trade and scientific–technical cooperation; and to study the establishment of new cooperation frameworks.
They committed to promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation, encouraging and facilitating business operations and investment in each other’s markets; enhancing business connectivity; diversifying markets and supply chains; and addressing bottlenecks related to institutions, payments and transport, with a view to achieving balanced and sustainable growth in bilateral trade.
Both sides identified energy and oil and gas, science and technology, innovation, and infrastructure development as priority areas of cooperation aligned with each country’s development needs.
Speaking highly of efforts of both countries, including the two governments, in striving to conclude negotiations and sign an agreement on the construction of the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant in Vietnam, ensuring safety, efficiency and compliance with international standards, President Putin described this as an important direction of cooperation, contributing to ensuring energy security and sustainable development. He pledged to direct the Russian Government to expedite next steps to soon launch the project, turning it into a new symbol of Vietnam–Russia friendship in the new era.
The two sides also supported closer cooperation and expanded investment by energy and oil and gas enterprises in each other’s territories in accordance with international law.
They underlined the need to strengthen cooperation in military-technical, security, and science and technology fields. The Vietnamese Government leader praised Russia’s basic sciences and advanced technologies, noting its position as a leading country in these areas. He proposed that building on the experience of the Vietnam–Russia Tropical Center, the two side pledged to enhance cooperation in areas such as basic science, emerging and high technologies, biomedicine, and aerospace.
Both sides agreed to step up people-to-people exchanges and facilitate travel for citizens of the two countries, thereby promoting tourism and increasing the number of Russian visitors to Vietnam as well as Vietnamese visitors to Russia. President Putin assigned the Russian Foreign Ministry to consider visa exemptions for Vietnamese citizens. The two sides also agreed to increase scholarships for Vietnamese students to boost the number studying in Russia.
The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, and agreed to continue close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums such as the United Nations and ASEAN, contributing to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
On this occasion, on behalf of the Party and State leaders of Viet Nam, Prime Minister Pham extended an invitation to President Putin to visit Vietnam at a convenient time. President Putin accepted the invitation with pleasure.
During his Russia visit, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, met with the Chairs of the Russian parliament's chambers, Valentina Matvienko and Vyacheslav Volodin, as well as with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu.
The PM also witnessed the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on construction of the first nuclear power plant in Vietnam; visited the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS), where more than 1,000 Vietnamese engineers and specialists in mining, materials science and metallurgy; and held working sessions with leaders of AFK Sistema, Russia's largest private conglomerate, and Russian Railways (RZD).
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the Russian-Vietnamese negotiation process in recent days as very productive, and the agreement to build a Russian-designed nuclear power plant in Vietnam as a breakthrough, according to Russian News Agency (TASS).
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