On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister, Co-Chair of the Russian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, presidential aides Nikolai Patrushev and Yury Ushakov, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, and Deputy Defence Minister Vasily Osmakov.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Comrade To Lam,
Friends, colleagues,
We are delighted to welcome you and your large delegation to Moscow.
The people of Vietnam celebrated Independence Day a few days ago, on September 2. I would like to note that special relations of friendship, mutual understanding and cooperation developed between our nations at the time when Vietnam was fighting for its sovereignty.
In this connection, I would like to say that Vietnam has achieved impressive results over its history of independence and full sovereignty, under the guidance of your party, under the guidance of Vietnam’s leadership teams. This demonstrates that those who fought for Vietnam, for its independence and sovereignty, did not do so in vain, and that their sacrifices were not in vain.
I would like to emphasise once again that the Vietnamese people are achieving impressive results on the basis of sovereignty.
We are developing our bilateral ties. Our trade is growing — last year, it increased by almost 6 percent, and in the first six months of this year, the pace of trade growth has virtually doubled.
We continue to work across all other areas, including culture, education and security. We already have projects that have stood the test of time, as well as new and interesting initiatives.
Comrade General Secretary, Mr President, we are delighted to see you. I know that you had a busy working day yesterday and many meetings on practical matters, as I have been told on our way to this room. However, I am confident our work today and the documents we sign will provide a solid foundation for the further development of our special strategic relations.
Welcome. Delighted to see you.
President of Vietnam To Lam (retranslated): Comrade President,
It is truly a pleasure to meet with you once again. You are a great friend of our country, a close brother to the Vietnamese people, and a comrade with whom I share a particularly warm personal bond.
Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to you and to the Russian people for your continued attention, support, and assistance in advancing bilateral cooperation between our two nations. I am also most grateful for the warm, cordial, and generous hospitality extended to our high-level delegation, to my wife, and to myself personally.
I would also like to thank you, Comrade President, for your sincere and friendly words addressed to me on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the Independence Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
In our restricted format talks today, I would like to discuss a number of issues that we regard as both strategic and urgent for our bilateral partnership.
Vietnam consistently places great emphasis on its relationship with Russia. We regard it as a priority, a consistent pillar of our foreign policy, and a strategic choice of enduring significance. We are aware that some countries have expressed views on our continued close ties with Russia. Yet Vietnam has neither wavered nor shifted its stance. We have made our position clear, because we fully understand the essence of this matter.
We highly value and deeply appreciate Russia’s influence and standing in the world, as well as President Putin’s personal role and authority, in shaping a new multipolar world order and in safeguarding global energy and food security.
I am confident that under your wise, resolute, and far-sighted leadership, Russia will conduct the forthcoming elections to the ninth State Duma and the local self-governments safely and successfully. These elections will, I believe, lend fresh momentum to Russia’s stability and prosperity, and in turn open up new opportunities for cooperation between Russia and its friendly partners – including Vietnam – in the near future.
I would very much welcome your views.
Thank you.
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