Russia ready to discuss free trade zone agreement with Vietnam - Shuvalov
MOSCOW. Aug 28 (Interfax) - Russia is prepared to discuss a free trade zone agreement with Vietnam, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said at a Tuesday briefing in Moscow dedicated to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit coming up in September in Vladivostok.
Russia has quite a successful dialog - both political and economic - with the APEC countries, especially Vietnam. "We are even more seriously and closely interacting with Vietnam right now. We have very close relations, and we are already close to starting to seriously work on a free trade zone agreement with Vietnam," he said.
The Vietnamese president recently paid a visit to Russia. "We've had a lot of contact with Vietnam as of late. Vietnam is becoming more and more interested in becoming a strategic partner of Russia in this region, and Russia supports this aspiration. We are placing this same issue on our own agenda," Shuvalov said.
