President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse arrived at Vnucovo-2 airport on June 28 (Photo: VNA)
Moscow (VNA)
– President Tran Dai Quang arrived in Moscow on June 28 afternoon, starting his
four-day official visit to Russia at the invitation of Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
A welcome ceremony for
the State leader was held at Vnucovo-2 airport, which was attended by Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin
Vnukov, and Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Nguyen Thanh Son, among others.
President Tran Dai
Quang’s entourage includes Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh
Minh, Secretary ofthe Hanoi Party Committee Hoang TrungHai, Minister of Finance
DinhTien Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of
Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Education PhungXuanNha, and
Minister of Information and Communication Truong Minh Tuan.
Vietnam and Russia
have enjoyed a growing relationship over the past years. The two sides
recognised each other’s market economy in 2017.
Their economic and
trade connection has also been developing. Oil and gas cooperation projects are
being implemented in both countries and bilateral trade is growing, reaching
2.7 billion USD in 2016, up 25 percent from 2015. The figure was 1.37 billion
USD in the first five months of 2017. The expansion of the partnership in auto
assembly and production also shows promise.
A free trade
agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a
member, was signed in 2015 and took effect on October 5, 2016.
Russia is currently
ranks 23th among 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Vietnam’s
investment in Russia has also increased from 100 million USD in 2008 to 2.4
billion USD currently, mostly in oil and gas, trade and agriculture.
Affiliation in
defence-security, science-technology, education-training and culture-tourism has
also been tightened. Cultural exchanges have been held regularly.
Russia is one of the
10 biggest sources of foreign tourists to Vietnam. More than 430,000 Russian
tourists came to Vietnam in 2016, up 12.8 percent year on year.
More than 5,000
Vietnamese students are studying in Russia.
Since 1991, the two
sides have signed over 100 cooperation documents in all fields, including
economy, trade, investment, oil and gas, nuclear power, education and training,
culture, science and technology, and defence.-VNA