Friendship, cooperation with Russia a priceless asset
 
MOSCOW (Vietnam News/ANN) -- National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan attended a plenary session of the Federation Council of Russia and delivered a speech on Wednesday, affirming the traditional friendship and cooperation with Russia as a priceless asset that Vietnam was determined to treasure.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan delivers a speech at a plenary session of the Federation Council of Russia.   --Photo VNA/VNS

Addressing the session, held during her official visit to Russia, the top legislator said almost 70 years ago, on January 30, 1950, the then Soviet Union set up diplomatic relations with Vietnam, becoming one of the first countries to do so.
She recalled the strong support the Soviet Union gave to Vietnam during the struggle to defend and reunify the nation, and said that Vietnam would always remember and respect the wholehearted assistance offered by the Soviet Union’s people for its fight for national independence and reunification.
She also attributed the reconstruction and development of Vietnam partly to solid ties with Russia, noting that the Soviet Union and Russia had helped the country train tens of thousands of cadres and build major structures that were important to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.
Bilateral relations were lifted to a strategic partnership in 2001, and a comprehensive strategic partnership – the highest relationship framework for Vietnam – in 2012, marking a breakthrough development in the countries’ connections, she said.
On that basis, Vietnam-Russia ties had enjoyed strong strides, the chairwoman said, highlighting political trust and cooperation mechanisms established in all fields.
Economic links had been growing, with bilateral trade hitting a record US$4.5 billion in 2018 and US$3.4 billion in the first nine months of 2019. Vietnam was the first country to sign a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a key member. Additionally, bilateral investment had continued to expand with many large projects, including oil and gas, according to the NA leader.
She added that cooperation in defence and security had increased while people-to-people exchanges had also been enhanced, and more young Vietnamese had chosen Russia to study in. Meanwhile, Vietnam remained a popular destination for Russian tourists with more than 600,000 people from Russia visiting the Southeast Asian nation in 2018, and that figure reached 500,000 in the first nine months of this year.
It was hard to find another country that the Vietnamese people held such a profound sentiment for like Russia, and this was shown not only through political and economic partnerships, but also cultural exchanges and connectivity, Ngan noted.
The Vietnamese leader went on to say the sound relations between the two countries had helped parliamentary cooperation to grow.

(Latest Update December 13, 2019)