MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. Hanoi appreciates diplomatic relations with Moscow and sees it as one of its foreign policy priorities, Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. 

"We always regard Russia as our extremely important priority in foreign policy and our close friend," Phuc said.

He stressed that Vietnam was exerting great efforts for creating favorable conditions for cooperation by Russian and Vietnamese companies. Hanoi hopes that this will help raise trading and economic relations between the two countries to a qualitatively new level.

"In particular, we would like to stress Russia’s successes in the economy and in gaining a firmer foothold on the international scene," Phuc said. "We have always had a special feeling towards Russia and been glad to see Russia achieve successes over the past 20 years under your guidance."

The Vietnamese president is in Moscow on an official visit. The two leaders will adopt a joint statement after the talks.