State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his entourage returned to the Noi Bai International Airport today [December 3] and wrapped up the successful trip to Russia at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: MoFA

Phuc’s wide range of activities and meetings in his four-day visit to Russia from November 29 to December 2 has marked major advances in bilateral relations and left a strong impression on Russian friends.

It is worth mentioning that the country leader’s visit to Russia was one of the highlights in Vietnam’s foreign affairs in 2021, and more importantly, to add momentum and lift the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership to a new height in the future.

The most important event during the visit was the meeting between State President Phuc and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi noted a four-hour meeting was hardly seen in President Putin’s record of foreign guest meetings.

“This showed the openness, sincerity, and special affection of President Putin for Vietnam’s State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, as well as between the Vietnam-Russia friendship,” Khoi said.

During the talk, Putin reaffirmed Russia’s stance of considering Vietnam as its top strategic partner in the region.

For his part, Phuc said Putin is a special friend of the Vietnamese people, noting the country gives priority to the long-standing friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia.

In the joint declaration released after the meeting, both sides shared the view to shaping the bilateral relations until 2030, in which a high level of political trust is seen as the foundation to further boost the relations in all spheres.

Under the declaration, Vietnam and Russia would cooperate to ensure security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the Asia-Pacific, while territorial disputes should be settled via peaceful solutions and in line with international laws, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The two agreed for mutual stance in the full implementation of the 2002 Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the soon conclusion of the Code of Conduct in these waters.

In various meetings with Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia Valentina Matvienko, Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Prime Minister Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishstin, and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, all Russian leaders shared the sentiment that Phuc’s visit to Russia would create the driving force for bilateral relations, especially as the two would soon celebrate 20th anniversary of the strategic partnership (2001-2021) and 10th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership (2012-2022).

Attending the Vietnam-Russia business summit, Phuc called for both sides to boost bilateral trade by 15-20-fold, and investment capital between the two by three-fold in the coming time.

On this occasion, Phuc attended the launch of the Vietnam-Moskva direct flight by budget carrier Vietjet.

He also held separate meetings with business leaders of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Gazprom, Novatek, Systema, or Miratorg.

Cooperate executives in these meetings expressed their impression of Vietnam’s economic development progress and the country’s effective measures against the pandemic.

All agreed that Vietnam remains a potential market and holds huge opportunities for Russian companies to invest in long-term.