Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko presided over an official welcome ceremony for visiting Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man in Moscow on September 9 afternoon (local time).

Matvienko warmly welcomed Man and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese NA on an official visit to Russia. She said Russia attaches great importance to this visit, and expressed her belief that it will not only help expand interparliamentary cooperation but also further promote the Russia-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Speaker said the Russia-Vietnam relationship has 75-year history and been tested by time. In recent years, based on efforts of high-ranking leaders of both countries, the bilateral cooperative ties have been upgraded to a new level: comprehensive strategic partnership. Most recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to Vietnam in June 2024. During the trip, at the meeting between President Putin and NA Chairman Man, the two sides acknowledged that the two parliaments have played an important role in developing the Russia-Vietnam cooperative relations.

Matvienko stressed that Man’s visit to Russia following Putin’s trip to Vietnam holds a symbolic significance, enabling the two sides to exchange views at the level of parliament to contribute to the implementation of agreements and documents signed between the two countries.

Man conveyed the regards and best wishes from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to senior leaders of Russia, including Matvienko.

He thanked Russia for congratulating Lam on his election as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to its relations with Russia via all channels, including the Party, State, parliament channels and people-to-people exchanges.

The NA Chairman congratulated Russia on its comprehensive achievements and results in recent times. He affirmed that the Party, State and people of Vietnam treasure the friendship and faithful relations with Russia as well as the valuable support and assistance for Vietnam provided by the people of the former Soviet Union and Russia today.

Vietnam is keen on boosting cooperation with Russia in the fields of economy, trade, investment, including oil and gas, and energy, defence-security, science, education-training, culture, sports, tourism, health and locality-to-locality partnerships. These cooperation areas have been the solid pillars in the bilateral relationship in recent times and need to be upheld and further promoted in the coming time, he said.

At the talks, the two leaders agreed that both sides should promote and expand cooperation on par with the tradition and comprehensive strategic partnership; uphold the achievements based on trust and existing cooperation frameworks; and coordinate to organize practical activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025.

The two sides will continue to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels to continuously consolidate and promote practical and effective cooperation through the Party, National Assembly, Government and people-to-people exchange channels.

Regarding inter-parliamentary cooperation, Man affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to the role of the Federation Council as well as highly values the role and important contributions of Matvienko to fostering bilateral relations, including cooperation between the two countries' legislatures.

The leaders agreed that the two sides should continue to increase the exchange of high-level delegations of parliamentary leaders, cooperation activities between the agencies of the parliaments, the Friendship Parliamentarians' Groups, the Young Parliamentarians' Groups, the Women Parliamentarians' Groups, and deputies of the two countries, in both in-person and online forms.

In addition, they should continue to coordinate in monitoring and hastening the implementation of the cooperation agreements signed by the two Governments and strategic cooperation projects; build and perfect a favourable legal corridor that enables the Governments, localities, businesses and people of the two countries to increase exchanges and collaboration on the basis of mutual benefit.

Appreciating the role and effectiveness of cooperation between the parliamentary groups of the two countries, Matvienko pointed out that the two sides have established friendship parliamentarians’ groups, including the Vietnam - Russia Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group chaired by NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Khac Dinh and the group for cooperation with the Vietnamese National Assembly led by First Vice Chairman of the Federation Council A.V. Yatskin.

Immediately after Man’s visit, on September 11, the 25th session of the Vietnam - Russia Intergovernmental Committee on cooperation in economy - trade and science - technology will take place in Moscow. Both host and guest agreed that this is an opportunity for the two sides to discuss the agreements reached as well as the possibility of expanding bilateral cooperation mechanisms.

The Federation Council always pays attention to boosting locality-to-locality ties, Matvienko affirmed, noting that Russian localities are promoting cooperation with Vietnamese ones. She called on Man to continue supporting the development of relations between localities of the two countries.

Mentioning educational cooperation, she said during his state visit to Vietnam in June 2024, President Vladimir Putin had a meeting with Vietnamese alumni. That many who used to study in Russia are holding important positions in Vietnam proves the high quality of Russia’s education. Russia supplies about 1,000 scholarships for Vietnam each year, she said.

Matvienko went on to say that the growth in tourism collaboration also clearly reflects the good friendship between the two countries, adding Russian people love spending their holidays in Vietnam. To maintain this trend, she perceived that it is necessary to increase direct air routes between the countries.

Mentioning cultural cooperation, the host said the Vietnam Culture Days were organised successfully in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in July this year, and that the two sides should keep stepping up cultural ties strongly.

On this occasion, Man invited Matvienko to pay a visit to Vietnam in the near future. The host leader accepted the invitation with pleasure.

Following the talks, Man and Matvienko signed a cooperation agreement between the Vietnamese NA and the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia. They also witnessed the signing of a cooperation deal between Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and Rostov Oblast./.