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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Comrade Prime Minister, friends, colleagues,

I am very glad to see you at the Kremlin.

I do not need to mention the formal side of our relations – they are undoubtedly strategic in nature, based on traditions of friendship and unanimity of views on a great many issues. July marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Agreement On Friendly Relations Between Vietnam and Russia, and next January, 70 years since diplomatic ties were established.

Bilateral trade is growing; we are expanding economic and political cooperation and coordinating our efforts in the international arena.

I know that you and your delegation have a packed programme during this visit to Russia. I am confident that your visit will give a good boost to the development of our relations.

We are very glad to see you.

Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc (retranslated): Mr Putin, friends,

I am glad to meet with you again, Mr President. You are a good and close friend of the Vietnamese people.

I would like to use this opportunity to once again reaffirm that we always believe our special historic ties and our relations of comprehensive strategic partnership to be very important.

Vietnam, our Communist Party and all our people have always cared about the bilateral relationship and remembered the cost of the help and support the Russian people provided Vietnam in the years of our fight against aggressors as well as in the subsequent development of our country. We are determined to bring Russian-Vietnamese relations to a new, more productive level.

We greatly value your special affection for our country, as well as the help you have always provided to Vietnam, and our bilateral relationship.

Mr Medvedev and I have had very substantive talks. I would like to discuss some key issues of bilateral cooperation with you at our meeting today.

First of all, I would like to note that Russian-Vietnamese relations have been developing very dynamically lately. The successful start of the implementation of the agreement on the free trade zone between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union is an excellent example.

Last year bilateral trade reached about $6 billion: it grew more than 30 percent.

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