Russian-Vietnamese relations have strategic nature - Putin at meeting with Vietnamese PM
MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is confident that Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Russia will facilitate further development of bilateral relations.
"There's no need to talk about a formal side of our relations, undoubtedly, they have a strategic nature based on the traditions of friendship and a unanimity of views on many issues," Putin said at a meeting with the Vietnamese prime minister.
This July marks 25 years since the signing of the Agreement on the foundations of relations of friendship between Russia and Vietnam and next January - 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, he said.
"Our trade is growing, we are expanding our interaction in economy, politics and coordinating our efforts on the international arena," Putin said.
He pointed out that the Vietnamese delegation has many items on the agenda of its visit to Russia. "I am confident that your visit will give a good impetus to the development of our relations," the Russian president said.
The Vietnamese prime minister, in turn, said that he is glad to meet the Russian president again.
"You are good and close friend of the Vietnamese people. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that we attach great importance to our special ties and relations of comprehensive strategic partnership," Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
Vietnam treasures bilateral relations and values support Russia provided during the country's fight against the aggressor, he said. "We are determined to bring relations between Vietnam and Russia to a new, more productive level. We value greatly your special affinity for our country and also value the assistance you always provide to Vietnam and our bilateral relations," the prime minister said.
He pointed out that he has had productive talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. "And I would like to discuss with you some key issues of bilateral cooperation at today's meeting," the Vietnamese prime minister said, noting that bilateral relations are developing dynamically recently.
In particular, the successful start of the implementation of an agreement on a free trade area between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) attests to that, he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Rosatom CEO Alexander Likhachyov, and Zarubezhneft director-general Sergei Kudryashov also attended the meeting.