MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. Russian-Vietnamese ties are invaluable treasure that Hanoi intends to continue cherishing and magnifying, Speaker of Vietnam’s National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said at a plenary session of Russia’s Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) on Wednesday.
"These traditional ties are priceless treasure which Vietnam will keep cherishing and magnifying," Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said.
According to the Vietnamese parliamentary speaker, bilateral cooperation is dynamically growing in all fields, while political relations have a very high level of trust and the countries regularly exchange delegations.
She was hopeful that two countries’ inter-parliamentary cooperation would help forge ties between Moscow and Hanoi.
"I am convinced that cooperation between our parliaments will facilitate further development of relations between the two counties, and we will be continuing collaborating in multilateral and international forms," the speaker of Vietnam’s parliament stressed.
Strategic choice amid threats
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan drew Russian lawmakers’ attention to unpredictability in the international arena and emphasized that Vietnamese-Russian cooperation was a strategic preference.
"The international situation has been recently unfolding unpredictably and it faces both traditional and new threats. In this situation, not only does the Vietnamese-Russian ties meet objective demands from both countries, but it is a strategic preference for our two countries that facilitates the further renovation and growth as well as peace, stability and cooperation in the world," she said.
Apart from that, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan pointed out that nearly 70 years ago, in January 1950, the Soviet Union was among the first states to establish official diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
"In its fight for independence and the country’s reunification Vietnam was pledged huge support and help from the Soviet and Russian people," she said adding that thousands of military and civilian specialists had been dispatched to that Asian country.
The Vietnamese parliamentary speaker underlined that the Soviet Union, and then the Russian Federation, had helped to train thousands of people, who became mostly lead specialists or assumed managing positions in many sectors.
Trade and investment
In her address to the upper house of Russia’s parliament, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hailed success in trade and economic relations and recalled that in 2018 trade between Russia and Vietnam soared to $4.5 billion against $3.7 billion the previous year.
She also mentioned broader investment cooperation.
"Multiple massive new investment projects have been implemented both in Vietnam and Russia. Along with this, I cannot but mention numerous projects in the oil and gas sector. Numerous major oil and gas companies like Vietsovpetro, Gazprom, Transneft and Zarubezhneft keep efficiently implementing multiple new projects on our continental shelf. In Russia, the joint venture Rusvietpetro is already producing oil in the [Yamalo]-Nenets Region," said Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, adding that cooperation in the oil and gas field makes a significant contribution to bilateral friendship and cooperation.
Cultural dimension
The speaker of Vietnam’s National Assembly hailed the development of humanitarian cooperation. According to her, more and more Vietnamese youths prefer Russia as a country of education options. Vietnam is still an attractive destination for Russian tourists, she added.
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan noted that Russia has also helped Vietnam to promote arts like ballet, circus and opera.