Vietnam, Belarus eye strong cooperation 

Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko signed a joint statement on developing comprehensively and intensively the bilateral partnership, after their talks in Minsk on June 27.

The two presidents affirmed the shared wish to increase trade and economic cooperation and recognised the huge cooperation potential in this field, taking into account the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which took effect October 5, 2016.
 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang
at the welcoming ceremony. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko holds talks with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA



Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko signed a joint statement on developing comprehensively
and intensively the bilateral partnership, after their talks in Minsk on June 27.Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA



Vietnam welcomed and would create favourable conditions for Belarusian enterprises to expand investment and business in Vietnam, said President Tran Dai Quang at a Vietnam-Belarus economic seminar in Minsk, Belarus, on June 27, 2017. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA



Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang met with Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov on June 27, 2017. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA



President Tran Dai Quang met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko in Minsk on June 27, 2017.Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA

At a press conference following their talks in Belarus’s capital city of Minsk on June 27, President Tran Dai Quang and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters that Vietnam and Belarus will work to lift bilateral trade to 500 million US dollars.

Concerning the East Sea, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko supportedVietnam’s point of view on the settlement of territorial disputes, including the East Sea disputes, by peaceful means without using or threatening to use force, with the participation of all concerned parties. They welcome efforts to draft and soon ratify a Code of Conduct (COC) of parties in the East Sea.

Two-way trade in 2016 stood at 94.5 million US dollars and at 37.7 million US dollars in the first quarter of 2017. Vietnam exports seafood, wood-based products, garments, footwear, rice, natural rubber, cashew, tea, pharmaceutical products and computers to Belarus, while importing fertiliser, machines, equipment, automobile spare parts, trucks and chemicals.

Vietnam – Russia: boosting the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership

President Tran Dai Quang and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow on June 29 during the Vietnamese leader’s official visit to Russia from June 29 to July 1.

At the meeting, The two leaders stressed the need to seek new growth momentums to ensure dynamic development of economic-trade cooperation, and meet the urgent demands of the tasks on improving two-way trade, which is expected to reach 10 billion US dollars by 2020.

Therefore, the two sides agreed to work for the efficient implementation of the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) that was signed on May 29, 2015.

Russian President Vladimir Putin received President Tran Dai Quang at the Kremlin on June 29, 2017. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA
 

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang talked with his Russian counterpart V. Putin.  Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA



The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Sputnik Information Agency, an arm of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency (RSIIA), signed an agreement to exchange information. In the photo: VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi and RSIIA General Director Dmitry Kiselev at the signing ceremony. The agreement was signed in the witness of President Tran Dai Quang and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA



President Tran Dai Quang met with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on June 29, 2017. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA
 

President Tran Dai Quang met with President of the Council of the Russia Valentina Matvienko . Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA
 

President Tran Dai Quang valued the close cooperation and mutual support between the two legislatures of Vietnam and Russia during his meeting with
Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin in Moscow on June 30. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA

President Tran Dai Quang gave a speech at Vietnam - Russia Economic Forum in Moscow. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA
 

They also consented to the extension of cooperation in electricity, while sharing the hope for effective affiliation in oil and gas, automobiles manufacturing, shipbuilding, aviation, chemicals and light industry, and acknowledging the need to diversify bilateral ties in finance-credit.

President Tran Dai Quang and his Russian counterpart agreed to continue working closely in building the Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology in Vietnam, and affirmed their support of the cooperation programme between Vietnam and Russia on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, which was signed on May 23, 2017, in Hanoi.

The two presidents underscored the importance of cooperation in defence and military technology, as well as coordination of actions in defence-security without harming any third party. They also agreed to expand cooperation in science and technology, education and training, culture exchange and tourism.

Relating to the East Sea, they shared the view that border and territorial disputes and other conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region should be settled by peaceful means without the use of or threat to use force and on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in order to ensure peace, stability and security and in the region.

The two countries back the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea as well as the early formation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea.
 

Two-way trade reached 2.7 billion USD in 2016 and 1.37 billion US dollars in the first five months of 2017. Vietnam mainly exports mobile phones, garment-textile, farm produce, and seafood whilst importing oil and gas, iron and steel, fertiliser, machines and equipment. Russia now ranks 23rd out of 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 118 projects worth 1.1 billion US dollars, focusing on energy, mining, processing-manufacturing industry and banking. In recent years, Vietnam’s investment in Russia has rapidly increased from some 100 million US dollars in 2008 to 2.4 billion US dollars at present with 18 projects, concentrating on oil and gas, trade and agriculture.

VNA/VNP