(VOVWORLD) -President Tran Dai Quang began an official visit to Russia on Wednesday to enhance bilateral relations in various sectors.
 President Ho Chi Minh Monument in Moscow
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The Vietnamese-Russian relations have been strengthened with highly political trust in recent years. Regular delegation exchanges have motivated their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. Both countries share common views on regional and global issues and support each other at international forums.
Vibrant cooperation
Vietnam and Russia elevated their bilateral strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2012. The intensive cooperation ties have shown in the growth of bilateral trade revenue with impressive figures of 2.7 billion USD in 2016 and 1.37 billion USD in the first 5 months of this year. The Vietnam-Russia Business Council was established to promote trade and investment. The two countries have acknowledged each other’s market economy.
Russia ranks 23rd among the 116 countries and territories invested in Vietnam. It has 118 investment projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of 1.1 billion USD, focusing on energy, mining, processing, manufacturing, and banking.
Vietnam’s investment in Russia has increased from 100 million USD in 2008 to 2.4 billion USD in 18 projects related to petroleum, trade, and agriculture. Major projects include Rusvietpetro, Gazpromviet, TH-True Milk, and the Hanoi Trade Center in Moscow. Petroleum is a strategic cooperation sector and major economic foreign currency earner for both countries. The two countries have established the Vietsovpetro, Rusvietpetro, Vietgazprom, and Gazpromviet joint ventures.
Cultural exchanges have been held regularly to enhance understanding and friendship between the two peoples. A Culture Day program is held annually in each country. Continuing successes in education cooperation between Vietnam and the former Soviet Union, Russia has supported Vietnam in human resource training. About 5,000 Vietnamese students are currently studying in Russia. Cities in the two countries have established cooperative ties, and overseas Vietnamese in Russia have contributed significantly to national socio-economic development.
Treasuring the past, heading toward the future
67 years ago the Soviet Union was one of the first countries to recognize, and establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam. Through historical upheavals, bilateral relations have always been strong and the two countries will continue to be reliable friends and key partners.