New atmosphere in Vietnam-Russia relations

On the occasion of the official visit to Vietnam by Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin and co-chairing the 4th Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the State Duma of Russia, Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi shared with TG&VN the highlights of the visit and the atmosphere of cooperation between the two countries in recent times.

General Secretary To Lam held a brief meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his official visit to Russia in May 2025. (Source: VNA)

How does the Ambassador assess the progress in the relationship between the two countries since General Secretary To Lam's visit to Russia in May 2025?

The official visit to the Russian Federation to attend the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War by General Secretary To Lam in May 2025 was a great success, not only consolidating the long-standing traditional friendship but also creating a breakthrough, bringing the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a new stage of development on the foundation of high political trust.

What is of special significance is that the two countries' senior leaders have expressed high consensus in their determination to "renew" the relationship, making bilateral cooperation increasingly more substantial and effective, meeting the interests and development needs of each country in the new era.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Russia)

This is also a reciprocal visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin's State visit to Vietnam in June 2024.

Implementing the “Joint Statement on major orientations of the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the new period”, cooperation agreements were signed within the framework of the visit in areas such as diplomacy, defense, oil and gas, use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, science and technology, education and training, etc.

It can be said that the Vietnam-Russia relationship is changing, gaining a strong impetus for truly comprehensive cooperation, political relations becoming more trustworthy, and cooperation in all aspects becoming more dynamic and effective, especially in economic and trade cooperation. The two sides have found new momentum for traditional areas of cooperation, while expanding cooperation to new areas with great potential such as science, technology and health.

Dialogue and contact between high-ranking leaders of the two countries continue to be maintained regularly, contributing to further strengthening political trust - a key factor for Vietnam and Russia to strengthen strategic cooperation.

President Luong Cuong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had bilateral meetings with President V. Putin in China on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit (August 31) and the 80th anniversary of the world people's victory over fascism (September 3).

Following the visit of our General Secretary, recently, a representative of the Russian high-ranking leadership - First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Parliament, Secretary of the Plenary Council of the Party "United Russia" V. Yakushev attended the ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and the founding of the country. Russia also sent soldiers to attend the military parade of Vietnam for the first time on this occasion.

Chairman of the State Duma of Russia V. Volodin is preparing to visit Vietnam. The two countries cherish the historical values ​​associated with important anniversaries in 2025 and demonstrate them through concrete actions.

In addition, we can also see clear movements in cooperation between the two countries in recent times, after the General Secretary's visit, in areas such as energy, health, culture, tourism, construction, etc. In particular, for the first time, Vietnam organized a Cultural Festival at Red Square (July 25 - August 3), attracting nearly 1 million visitors, followed by the Vietnamese representative - singer Duc Phuc participating and winning the Intervision international music competition hosted by Russia (September 20), which really brought a new atmosphere to Vietnam-Russia cooperation, more closely connecting the two countries, two peoples and creating favorable premises to promote cooperation in other fields, contributing to "renewing" the relationship.

Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Victorovich Volodin welcomed Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man on the occasion of his official visit to Russia in September 2024. (Source: VGP)

Ambassador, could you please evaluate the significance and key contents of the visit to Vietnam by Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin? What are the highlights of the 4th meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee of the two countries?

At the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation (Lower House) Vyacheslav Volodin will pay an official visit to Vietnam from September 28-30 to attend the 4th session of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. This is Mr. Volodin's third visit to Vietnam as Chairman of the State Duma.

This visit to Vietnam by Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin is within the framework of cooperation between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Russian National Assembly, taking place in a year when the two countries celebrate many important events in bilateral relations as well as in each other's countries such as the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Russia diplomatic relations, the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and the 80th anniversary of the founding of Vietnam.

Therefore, the visit is of great significance.

Firstly , the visit shows that the two countries value their traditional friendship and are determined to strengthen and deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership.

The visit is an important event in the Vietnam-Russia relationship in 2025, following the activities of senior leaders of both sides since the beginning of the year: The official visit to Vietnam by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (January 2025), especially the official visit to Russia by General Secretary To Lam (May 2025), affirming the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, inheriting the tradition of friendship and cooperation built and nurtured over the past 75 years, entering a new era with a new mindset and increasing political trust.

Second , the visit aims to promote the implementation of major orientations to deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that were discussed and agreed upon by the two countries' senior leaders during President Vladimir Putin's State visit to Vietnam (June 2024) and General Secretary To Lam's official visit to Russia (May 2025).

The two countries' National Assemblies, as the supreme legislative bodies, play an important role in creating a legal framework for bilateral cooperation as well as supervising the implementation of high-level agreements.

Third , the visit reflects the increasingly important role of the National Assembly in promoting bilateral cooperation as well as parliamentary cooperation around the world.

Fourth , the visit contributes to strengthening cooperation between the State Duma of the Russian Federation in particular, the National Assembly of the Russian Federation in general and the National Assembly of Vietnam - one of the important political cooperation contents of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; enhancing exchanges, contacts, and coordination between specialized committees, friendship groups of parliamentarians of the two countries as well as coordinating actions at international and regional inter-parliamentary forums.

The visit is an opportunity for the two countries' leaders to comprehensively discuss bilateral cooperation issues, from economics, trade, energy, oil and gas, science and technology to education, culture, defense, security, people-to-people exchange, etc., as well as cooperation between the two countries' National Assemblies; promote key cooperation projects, remove existing problems and obstacles, and determine cooperation directions in the coming time.

Within the framework of the visit, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin and Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man will co-chair the 4th meeting of the Vietnam-Russia Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

This is the first and highest inter-parliamentary cooperation mechanism between our National Assembly and a foreign legislative body. At this meeting, the two sides will share their experiences in legislative activities, perform the supervisory role of the two countries' parliaments in implementing cooperation as well as exchange solutions to guide the two governments to resolve specific difficulties and obstacles in bilateral cooperation at present, especially promoting the search for new driving forces, effectively exploiting potential fields such as science - technology, education - training that we have not yet fully exploited to achieve the goal of "renewing relations" and raising the level of cooperation.

This is the fourth meeting of the Committee. Both sides have experience in coordination and working, and I believe that the meeting will be a great success.

Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi congratulated Vietnamese representative Duc Phuc on winning the Intervision international music competition hosted by Russia on September 20. (Photo: Tam Hang)

In recent times, the two countries have actively cooperated to promote key cooperation projects in many fields. According to the Ambassador, what role will cooperation and experience sharing between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Russian State Duma play in removing bottlenecks and building more bridges of cooperation between the two countries in the coming time?

As a legislative body, the cooperation, coordination and exchange of experiences between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the State Duma of the Russian Federation, through the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee mechanism, and exchanges through specialized committees, are important in monitoring the implementation of agreements between the two countries' senior leaders, creating a favorable business environment, economic-trade cooperation, and investment for businesses and people of both sides, as well as building a complete and timely legal and treaty basis to effectively implement bilateral cooperation.

Besides the Intergovernmental Committees, the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee is one of the important cooperation mechanisms contributing to promoting bilateral cooperation.

The third meeting (September 2024) was attended by representatives of both governments, so the two sides resolved many issues. If this mechanism continues to be maintained effectively, cooperation through the National Assembly channel will continue to play an active role in removing difficulties and obstacles and promoting key cooperation projects in the energy sector.

The specialized committees of the two countries' parliaments can promote the expansion of cooperation in science - technology, education - training, which are areas in which Russia has great potential and strength and we have great demand to serve the development goals in the new era. Besides, I think there are two issues that both sides need to pay attention to and consider promoting, which are the travel of citizens of the two countries and labor cooperation.

Thank you very much, Ambassador!

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/bau-khong-khi-moi-trong-quan-he-viet-nam-nga-328799.html