Party General Secretary, President Tô Lâm at the telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Party General Secretary and President Tô Lâm on Thursday held a phone conversation with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

President Putin, who had sent a congratulatory letter, expressed his desire to personally congratulate Lâm on being elected as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Việt Nam.

President Putin recalled the pleasant memories from his recent visit to Việt Nam, thanking Comrade Lâm for the warm reception and highly appreciated the substantial and fruitful exchanges with Vietnamese leaders during the visit.

The Russian leader wished Lâm success in his new role, expressing confidence in his ability to lead the Party, State and people of Việt Nam to more success in Party building and developing into a prosperous nation.

General Secretary, President Lâm sincerely thanked President Putin and Russian leaders for sending condolences and dispatching a delegation to the State funeral of the late General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

This demonstrated the profound and special relationship between the two countries and the special sentiments of President Putin and Russian leaders towards the late Party leader, as well as the Party, State, and people of Việt Nam.

General Secretary, President Lâm said that Trọng was an outstanding leader, highly respected by the Party, State, and people of Việt Nam. Throughout almost 60 years of revolutionary activities, he made tireless contributions to the glorious revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation and devoted much passion and effort to fostering the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between Việt Nam and Russia.

General Secretary, President Lâm thanked President Putin for the congratulations, affirming that Việt Nam remains steadfast in its independent, self-reliant, multi-faceted foreign policy and continues to prioritise strengthening and developing its comprehensive strategic partnership with the Russian Federation.

He expressed confidence that the relationship between the two countries would continue to flourish, bringing tangible benefits to both peoples and contributing to peace and development in the region and the world.

The two leaders agreed that the Việt Nam-Russia cooperation relationship has been growing well and achieved significant results in all fields, especially in defence, security, energy, oil and gas, and trade.

To further strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership, the two countries' leaders discussed and agreed on several major directions for future cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

President Putin expressed his pleasure and looked forward to welcoming General Secretary, President Lâm for a visit to Russia. — VNS