Russia, Vietnam sign economic, investment deals

HANOI, April 6. /TASS/. Russian and Vietnamese companies signed a host of agreements on Monday to develop cooperation in the energy sector, investment projects, health care and culture as part of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the Southeast Asian country. Specifically, Gazpromneft, the oil arm of Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation agreed major terms for the Russian company to acquire a 49 percent stake in the authorized capital of Vietnamese major refinery Binh Son Refining & Petrochemicals and a memorandum of mutual understanding between the two companies. Russia’s electricity trader Inter RAO - Export agreed with Vietnam’s North Power Service on modernizing electric power plants on the territory of Vietnam. Russia’s rail company Russian Railways and the Vietnamese Railways signed a cooperation agreement. Also, Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov and his Vietnam’s counterpart signed a joint statement by the Russian and Vietnamese chairmen of the bilateral high-level working group on priority investment projects. The Russian-Vietnamese high-level working group approved an action plan for investment projects in 2015 and a plan of measures in 2015-2017 to implement a program of cooperation between Russia’s consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor and Vietnam’s Health Ministry in ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological safety of the population. An agreement was also signed on cooperation between the Society of Russian-Vietnamese Friendship and the Society of Vietnamese-Russian Friendship in 2016-2020. Read more