(VOVworld) – Vietnam is positioned to serve as a bridge to help Russian enterprises expand their operations in Southeast Asian markets and ASEAN, now that Vietnam has entered a number of FTAs with foreign countries and organizations, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Thursday on the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: VNA)

Mr. Phuc congratulated Russia on hosting the ASEAN-Russia Summit, adding that he believed the event’s success will raise relations to a new height.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen coordination to implement key collaborative projects and programs, particularly in trade, oil, nuclear power, and tourism to lay a foundation for the expansion of bilateral affiliation into other fields.

They agreed to boost cooperation at multilateral forums of the UN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

President Putin hailed the role of Vietnam in Southeast Asia, saying Vietnam is one of Russia’s priorities in the Asian-Pacific region. He said Russia is keeping a close watch on the situation in Southeast Asia and particularly the East Sea and reiterated Russia’s standpoint of resolving any disputes via peaceful means and in respect of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while implementing fully and effectively the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC). Russia also supports ASEAN and China jointly building a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the awarding of Vietnam’s friendship medals to President and CEO of Rosneft group Igor Ivanovich and President and CEO of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Nguyen Quoc Khanh.