Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. — File Photo

Viet Nam News -HÀ NỘI – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc begins his official visit to Russia today at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The PM’s Russian tour is the first by a Vietnamese leader in the new tenure, which aims to implement the foreign policy of the 12th National Party Congress and strengthen the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.
During the trip to Russia, which runs until Friday, PM Phúc will also attend the Commemorative Summit to mark the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN-Russia dialogue relationship on Thursday and Friday.
The Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has strongly developed in recent years.
The two-way trade volume reached US$2.2 billion in 2015 and $591 million in the first quarter this year. Việt Nam mainly exported phones, garments and agro-forestry-fishery products, while mainly importing oil and petrol, steel, fertiliser, machinery and equipment from Russia.
Currently, Russia ranks 17th out of 101 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam with a total capital of $2 billion in 114 projects. Russian companies mainly invested in mining, processing and manufacturing.
Vietnamese companies have invested $2.93 billion in Russia, mostly in oil and gas and trade, with major projects including Rusvietpetro, Gazpromviet and the Hanoi Trade Centre in Moscow.
Energy has been the traditional and strategic field of co-operation between the two countries, with considerable contributions to Việt Nam and Russia’s state budgets.

The two countries have also stepped up co-operation in security, defence, science and technology, as well as ties between their localities. More than 100 co-operative agreements have been signed since 1991 pertaining to the economy, trade, investment, gas and oil, nuclear power, training and education, culture, science and military engineering.
The Commemorative Summit to mark the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN-Russia dialogue relationship takes place in the context of positive progress in bilateral ties.
At the meeting, Russian and ASEAN leaders are expected to discuss and draw up guidelines for strengthening the ASEAN-Russia Partnership to make it more practical and effective in the future. — VNS