MOSCOW. June 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet on Thursday with visiting Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.
Tran Dai Quang arrived in Moscow on Wednesday at the invitation of the Russian president and will stay here till July 1. It is his first official visit to Russia since his taking office in April 2016.
Tran Dai Quang’s meeting with the Russian prime minister is expected to focus on current issues of bilateral trade and economic, investment, scientific and technical, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation, implementation of big joint projects in the industrial, energy, agricultural sectors, tourism and other areas, the press service of the Russian government said. Special attention will be paid to issues related to the free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam.
After that, the visiting Vietnamese leader will have talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. It is planned to discuss ways for further strengthening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Vietnam, the Kremlin press services said. Special attention is expected to be focused on issues of closer cooperation in the trade-and-economic, investment and cultural-and-humanitarian spheres, and on the implementation of the free trade zone agreement between the European Economic Union and Vietnam.
Apart from that, the two leaders will exchange views on current issues of the international and regional agenda with a focus on the situation in the Asia Pacific region. The talks are expected to yield a number of bilateral documents, the Kremlin added.
In an interview with TASS ahead of his visit to Russia, the Vietnamese president said that during the upcoming Moscow talks, he planned "to confirm the country’s course aimed at developing ties with Russia." "Friendly relations with Russia are a priority as far as our foreign policy is concerned as Vietnam believes your country to be its true strategic partner," Tran Dai Quang pointed out.
Apart from that, he said, during the forthcoming Moscow meetings the sides were to "assess the current state of bilateral relations and exchange views on ways to enhance inter-state ties, as well as on specific measures that need to be taken in order to strengthen Vietnamese-Russian partnership in all spheres."
The Vietnamese leader stressed that his country invites Russian to continue to boost cooperation in such spheres as defense, security, scientific, education and culture, tourism, labor resources, and advance inter-regional cooperation. The Vietnamese president also said that the parties would also discuss possibilities for efficient use of the advantages of the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Besides, Tran Dai Quang said that he planned to bring up regional and global issues of mutual interest, which particularly included cooperation in arranging the APEC Year 2017 in Vietnam and interaction in accordance with the partnership between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Russia.