President Luong Cuong received the Russian Friendship Medal

The awarding ceremony of the Friendship Medal of the State of the Russian Federation to President Luong Cuong and leaders and former leaders of the Ministry of Defense and the Vietnam – Russia Tropical Center took place at the Presidential Palace on January 15, in framework of the official visit to Vietnam by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Receiving Prime Minister Mishustin, President Luong Cuong highly appreciated the significance of his first visit to Vietnam, contributing to creating motivation to promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. .

The two leaders said that the two sides need to continue efforts to maintain and promote the rapid growth of bilateral trade, taking full advantage of the potential, strengths and experience of cooperation between the two countries over 75 years. through to bring relations in other fields into depth, substance, effectiveness, and mutual benefit. President Luong Cuong supports the two governments in handling outstanding issues in cooperation.

Prime Minister Mishustin emphasized that Russia always considers Vietnam one of the important partners in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in Southeast Asia, and wishes to further develop cooperation areas with Vietnam. Bilateral cooperation in which both sides have strengths and needs, in order to meet the wishes of the people of the two countries and the development requirements of each country.

President Luong Cuong affirmed that Vietnam consistently implements a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification, in which Russia is one of the top priorities. Vietnam wishes to continue developing the traditional friendly relationship with Russia for the development benefits of the two countries and for the prosperity of the two peoples.

The President thanked Russian leaders and authorities for creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, study and work stably in Russia; suggested that the Russian government continue to provide annual scholarships for Vietnamese students to study abroad, especially in basic sciences and academic arts, and hoped that Russia would promote cooperation with Vietnam in these fields. Prospects such as digital transformation, digital technology industry, digital economic development, digital society, green transformation, artificial intelligence…

The two leaders agreed to continue promoting cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, especially between the young generation of the two countries to increase understanding.

Vietnam and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations in 1950. In June 1994, Vietnam and Russia signed the Treaty on the basic principles of friendly relations between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Russian Federation . The two sides established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2012.

Bilateral turnover between the two countries in the 11 months of 2024 will reach 4.1 billion USD, up 27.4% over the same period in 2023. Export activities will reach 2.1 billion USD (up 35.7%) and imports will reach 2 billion USD (up 29.2%).

Accumulated as of early November 2024, the Russian side currently has 199 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of about 990 million USD, ranking 26th out of 147 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Vietnam has 16 valid investment projects in Russia with a total registered capital of 1.6 billion USD, ranking fourth out of 81 countries and territories with investments in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese community in Russia has about 60,000-80,000 people. From 2019, Russia increased the number of scholarships for Vietnam to about 1,000 each year. There are currently more than 5,000 Vietnamese students studying abroad in Russia.