Official website of the President of Russia

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr General Secretary, friends, it is a pleasure to welcome you to Russia.

At the beginning of our meeting I would like to note that relations between Russia and Vietnam are developing progressively in all areas, and we are satisfied with the state of our interstate ties. We can by right qualify these relations as a strategic partnership.

We see positive trends in political, economic, military and technical cooperation.

I am very glad to have this opportunity to meet with you, Mr General Secretary, and with our colleagues and friends in a restricted format and then to discuss the entire complex of our relations in an expanded format.

Welcome.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong (retranslated): I would like to thank you.

First of all, I am glad to have the opportunity to come to the Russian Federation on an official visit and to meet with this hospitable people. We are also grateful to you for your warm welcome of our delegation.

I am personally very happy to have this opportunity to meet with you in person, Mr President. You are a friend of the Vietnamese nation and a person deeply respected by our people.

As you rightly noted, this visit is taking place at a time when relations between our countries are developing consistently in all areas. In 2019, our countries will celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Agreement On Friendly Relations Between Vietnam and Russia.

In 2020, we will celebrate the 70^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Russian Federation. Looking further, in 2022 we will mark the 10^th anniversary of the overarching strategic partnership.

The purpose of this visit to Russia is to further strengthen cooperation between Vietnam and the Russian Federation. I think this visit will help to further develop our cooperation and resolve any difficulties that our bilateral cooperation has faced recently for objective and subjective reasons.

Allow me to take the opportunity to congratulate Russia on the great success of the World Cup. You attended the World Cup matches, and I want to compliment you on the impressive performance of the Russian national football team during this championship. Vietnamese audiences watched the World Cup and the Russian team very closely.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

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