While Vietnam remains one of a handful of countries having controlled the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation remains complicated globally, and Russia is willing to support Vietnam in this regard, including the provision of Covid-19 vaccines, according to Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov. Photo: Quang Hieu.

Russia gives strong priority to the cooperation and friendship with Vietnam, stated Mr. Vnukov in a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 11.

According to Mr. Vnukov, Covid-19 has led to the suspension of a number of key events between the two countries, including President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Vietnam.

Mr. Putin is also one of the world’s leaders that are looking forward to attending the upcoming East Asia Summit, noted Mr. Vnukov.

The Russian ambassador stated his country fully supports Vietnam as ASEAN Chair in 2020, expecting the latter would excel in its role.

Moreover, ASEAN is one of Russia’s priorities for cooperation in the Asia – Pacific region, in which Vietnam is Russia’s top economic partner among ASEAN countries.

The Vietnam PM highly regarded Mr. Vnukov’s efforts in boosting the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

During the 2019 – 2020 period, Vietnam and Russia have held a number of events marking the 70^th anniversary of the diplomatic relations and 25^th anniversary of the introduction of basic principles for the bilateral relations, Mr. Phuc noted.

As the two countries have gained high-level political trust, economic cooperation is growing strongly with trade turnover reaching US$4.5 billion in 2019, up from US$2.5 billion in 2014.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, bilateral trade turnover still went up by 10% during the nine-month period of 2020, added Mr. Phuc.

An overview of the meeting. Photo: Quang Hieu.

Mr. Phuc suggested the priority should be to further boost economic, trade, security and defense cooperation, for which both countries should work to remove existing barriers in bilateral relations.

In terms of trade, Mr. Phuc expected the bilateral turnover to soon reach US$10 billion in the soonest time possible.

Notably, PM Phuc also welcomed President of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin to visit Vietnam and jointly hold an inter-parliamentary committee meeting between the State Duma and Vietnam’s National Assembly in late 2020, which is a key working mechanism in bilateral relations.

Mr. Phuc said he looked forward to receiving Russian President and Prime Minister to visit Vietnam in a convenient time.

As the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam would continue to support and boost the ASEAN – Russia strategic partnership, Mr. Phuc concluded.