National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ welcomes Andrey Vladimirovich Yatskin, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Federation (upper house) of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in Hà Nội on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI — Russia is one of the most important and priority partners in Việt Nam’s foreign policy, National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vương Đình Huệ told  First Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federal Assembly’s Federation Council Andrey Yatskin, who is leading a delegation of the council to visit Việt Nam.  

During his reception for the Russian guest in Hà Nội on Friday, NA Chairman Huệ emphasised that the Russian delegation’s visit is of great significance as the two countries had marked 10 years of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2012-2022), and were preparing for the 100th anniversary of President Hồ Chí Minh’s arrival in Russia (1923- 2023).

The Vietnamese NA wished to continue substantive and effective cooperation with Russia in various fields, for the mutual benefits of the two peoples, and for peace, stability and development in the region and in the world, Huệ said. 

NA Chairman Huệ expressed his pleasure at the strong development of bilateral relations with high confidence, saying that in the parliamentary cooperation channel, the two sides had maintained high-level meetings even when the COVID-19 pandemic had complicated developments.

The two countries had been also maintaining meetings and mutual support at multilateral cooperation mechanisms, he said, adding that Việt Nam thanked Russia for supporting its candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2023-2025 term. 

Việt Nam supported Russia to play an active and constructive role in the region and the world, he stressed, affirming that as an active member of ASEAN, Việt Nam was willing to act as a bridge to promote cooperation between Russia and other ASEAN member countries.

He spoke highly of outcomes of the talks between NA Vice Chairman Nguyễn Khắc Định and Yatskin on the same day, saying that the results would be a basis for the two sides to continue strengthening their legislative relations.

Host and guest agreed that the two sides would discuss and finalise a draft to renew the cooperation agreement between the Vietnamese NA and the  Russian Federal Assembly’s Federation Council.

Sharing Huệ’s opinion on the full implementation of the joint statement on the vision of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to 2030 signed in 2021, Yatskin affirmed that Russia was ready to coordinate with Việt Nam in implementing the joint statement.

Both host and guest stressed that the two sides needed to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation in a practical and effective manner, especially in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food.

The two sides should consider resuming air routes to boost tourism cooperation, people-to-people exchange, and economic ties, thus meeting requirements of investors, businesses and citizens of the two countries, they said.

The Vietnamese top legislator suggested the two countries step up bilateral cooperation in the fields of oil, gas and energy, saying that Việt Nam welcomed oil and gas enterprises to strengthen cooperation and engage in offshore wind and gas power projects in Việt Nam.

He called on the Russian parliament and government to continue supporting activities of Russian oil and gas enterprises in Việt Nam in accordance with international law.

Regarding education cooperation, NA Chairman Huệ thanked the Russian side for helping Việt Nam train a large number of students and officials, and providing 1,000 scholarships for Việt Nam per year. He hoped the two sides would continue to boost cooperation in science and technology with joint cooperation projects, especially in terms of marine scientific research.

Receiving a letter of Valentina Matvienko, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia handed over by Yatskin, NA Chairman Huệ thanked and accepted the invitation to visit Russia from Speaker Matvienko, and extended an invitation to Matvienko to pay an official visit to Việt Nam at an appropriate time. — VNS