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Opening Remarks at Extended Russian-Vietnamese Talks

May 18, 2004, The Kremlin, Moscow

Vladimir Putin: Dear Mr President, dear friends,

Allow me once again to wish you a warm welcome to the Kremlin. In our talks just now with the President, we noted that relations between Vietnam and the Russian Federation are dynamic in nature and are developing in the spirit of strategic partnership based on the Hanoi Declaration of 2001. Our relations have a solid historic foundation and a reliable and modern legal basis in the form of the agreement on the basic principles of the friendly relations between our countries that was signed in 1994.

People in Russia have warm feelings for Vietnam, which we see as a friend. We are genuinely pleased to see your country growing stronger, achieving success in social and economic development and increasing its international authority.

I would like to thank you, Mr President, for accepting our invitation and bringing such a representative delegation with you to the Russian capital.

Tran Duc Luong: Allow me once again to express my gratitude to President Vladimir Putin for his invitation to visit the Russian Federation in these fine May days made all the more significant by the fact that Russia has just achieved another major political victory by successfully holding presidential elections, and that you, esteemed Mr President, as these elections show, enjoy a high level of confidence among the Russian people, and that your inauguration has just taken place.

The Vietnamese people still have warm memories of your first visit to our country in the first year of this new century, 2001. During your visit to our country our people had the chance to once again see the warm feelings, friendly relations and cooperation that exist between our countries and that you demonstrated with regard to our people. Your visit also gave you the chance to see the Vietnamese people’s feelings for Russia and for yourself. We follow closely the changes taking place in your country and we are very happy that through the leadership of yourself and the other authorities in the country, and with the support of the Russian people, you are pulling the country out of its previous state of stagnation and putting it on the road of stable development and renewed authority and strength on the world stage. We would like to congratulate you personally and the government and the people of Russia on this success, and we are sure that under your leadership Russia will continue to develop.

May 18, 2004, The Kremlin, Moscow