Vietnam, Russia enhance economic, sci-tech ties

Hanoi, November 25 (VNA) - Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Ivanovich Shuvalonovich Shuvalov will attend the 18th session of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-Governmental Committee for Economic-Trade and Scientific-Technological Cooperation in Vietnam on November 25. The attendance of Shuvalov, who is also president of the committee, will be made at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. The Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership has flourished across the fields of politics, economy, trade, investment, energy, national defence, education-training and culture. The sides have held regular high-level exchanges and meetings, recently evidenced by the Russian Prime Minister’s visit to Vietnam in April and the Vietnamese President’s visit to Russia to attend the 70 th anniversary of Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War in May. They also continue working closely together at international forums, including the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting and the ASEAN-Russia cooperation framework. Two-way trade hit 2.55 billion USD last year and 1.4 billion USD in January-August. Vietnam has invested 2.4 billion USD in 18 projects in Russia. Vietnam and the Eurasia Economic Union, including Russia, signed a free trade agreement in May. This year, Russia provided Vietnamese students with 795 tertiary scholarships. Russia is also among the top 10 sources of tourist arrivals in Vietnam, with 350,000 landing in last year. The figure for the first eight months of this year was 214,000.-VNA