Beijing (VNA) – President Vo Van Thuong had a meeting with Russian PresidentVladimir Putin in Beijing, China, on October 17 on the sidelines of the third Belt andRoad Forum for International Cooperation (BRF).

Thetwo leaders expressed their delight at the positive development of the Vietnam-Russiatraditional friendship and the comprehensive strategic partnership based on politicaltrust and extensive cooperation. They took note of significant progress achieved recently, such as maintaining all-levelexchanges and advancing joint work in various fields including economy-trade,defence-security, science-technology, education, training, energy, andpeople-to-people exchanges.

They highlighted the exchange of high-leveldelegations between the two countries and parties recently, such as telephone talks between Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Putin, and the visits of leader of the ruling United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Victorovich Volodin.

President Thuong affirmed that Vietnam always remembers Russia’s support in the pastand at present. He went onhighlighting that in implementing the foreign policy of independence,self-reliance, multilateralisation, and diversification, Vietnam considersRussia one of its most important partners and wants to foster the two countries’comprehensive strategic partnership across all fields for their prosperity and the sakeof their peoples.

TheState leader expressed his appreciation for Russian agencies and localities's assistancein building the statue of President Ho Chi Minh in Saint Petersburg and hopedthat Russia will continue to provide scholarships to Vietnamese students andenhance the bilateral cultural and people-to-people exchanges. He also proposedmore favourable conditions created for the Vietnamese expatriate community inRussia.

Putinstated that Vietnam is one of the most important partners of Russia in theAsia-Pacific region and invited Thuong to visit Russia at an appropriate time. 

The two leaders agreed that plenty of room is available for further strengtheningthe bilateral relationship in the time to come. Putin concurred with Thuong’sopinions and assessments, especially regarding the directions and measures topromote the ties, including the enhancement of mutual understanding andpolitical trust through all-level visits and exchanges, as well as theexpansion of collaboration in economy, trade, security, defence, science,technology, culture, education, energy, and other areas according to bilateralagreements.

Theyalso discussed the utilisation of bilateral and multilateral mechanisms andframeworks for economic, trade and investment cooperation, including the Vietnam-Russiaintergovernmental commission on economic-trade and sci-tech cooperation and theEurasian Economic Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

Besides, the two leaders exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

Thuong took the occasion to extend an invitation to President Putin to visitVietnam in the near future, which he accepted with pleasure./.