During his state visit to Russia, the Vietnamese top leader met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow. Mr. Lam said following the success of TH Group’s investment in Russia, Vietnam encourages its businesses to invest in agriculture in Russia and encourages Russian companies to invest in industry in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese leader said the two sides should establish new strategic connectivity through cooperation in transport, particularly rail, maritime and air transport. To improve the efficiency of economic and trade cooperation, he called on the Russian Government to direct relevant ministries and agencies to review and resolve obstacles to trade and investment, including issues related to tariffs, quotas, transport, logistics and market access. He also urged Russia to help increase the presence of Vietnamese goods in the Russian market.
Noting that Vietnam was the first country in the world to sign a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a member, Mr. Lam asked Russia to encourage other EAEU members to further open their markets, remove trade barriers and eliminate trade-defense measures against Vietnamese goods.
He also called on Russia to support Vietnam in training high-quality human resources in fields where Russia has strengths and Vietnam has demand.
Prime Minister Mishustin said the two countries should seek ways to improve maritime, rail and multimodal transport, helping establish stable supply chains and facilitate the flow of goods between the two countries.
Russia also wants to expand energy cooperation with Vietnam beyond traditional areas into new fields that meet the development needs and orientations of both countries.
General Secretary and President To Lam and Prime Minister Mishustin agreed that science and technology has great potential to become a new driving force for bilateral ties. They called for stronger cooperation in this area and agreed to explore cooperation in new energy, biomedical technology and other emerging fields.
Also on Tuesday, the Vietnamese top leader met with Valentina Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia’s Federal Assembly.
He proposed that the two legislatures continue to increase exchanges between their leaders, specialized committees, friendship parliamentary groups, young parliamentarians and women parliamentarians, while sharing experience in lawmaking, oversight and decision-making on major national issues.
He urged the two legislative bodies to help create a favorable legal framework for bilateral cooperation and strengthen supervision and follow-up on agreements reached by the senior leaders and governments of the two countries. This would help translate political commitments into concrete programs, projects and cooperation outcomes.
Chairwoman Matviyenko affirmed that the Federation Council is ready to work closely with the Vietnamese National Assembly and contribute actively to implementing the orientations and agreements reached by the two countries’ senior leaders.
Earlier, at a meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Chairman of the United Russia Party and Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that Vietnam consistently attaches importance to its traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, considering the relationship one of its top priorities in pursuing an independent, self-reliant, multilateral and diversified foreign policy.
He expressed Vietnam’s wish to work with Russia to make bilateral ties increasingly substantive, effective and sustainable, and proposed strengthening cooperation in energy, oil and gas, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and nuclear technology.
Dmitry Medvedev said the United Russia Party supports expanding cooperation in the economy, energy, oil and gas, science and technology, education, digital transformation and innovation, while creating favorable conditions for businesses from both countries to increase investment and trade cooperation.
