The bilateral meeting of Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
with Prime
Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc took place in the State Duma on May 23.
Welcoming the guest, the Chairman of the State Duma noted that the results of the last year demonstrate a positive dynamic in the bilateral relations between Russia and Vietnam.
“Your yesterday meetings with our President Vladimir Putin and with the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation will definitely give additional impetus to relations between our countries. And we hope that this will be an additional impetus to our cooperation within the framework of the inter-parliamentary dimension,” he said.
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc stressed that he considers negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation as very successful. He also said that the day before they with Dmitry Medvedev had opened the cross-year of Russia in Vietnam and Vietnam in Russia, during which more than two hundred events have been planned in various regions of the two countries.
He stated that the Vietnamese side “very highly” evaluates the results of the visit of the Chairman of the State Duma to Vietnam in December 2018.
“We always attentively follow and highly appreciate the results achieved by Russia in the development of its country. We are very glad that the Russian role in the world is steadily increasing, and the State Duma plays a very important role in this since it is the main legislative body that creates a solid legal foundation for the development of Russia,” said the Prime Minister of Vietnam.
He particularly noted that during the visit of Viacheslav Volodin to Vietnam a decision was made to create an inter-parliamentary high-level commission between Russia and Vietnam.
“I am very pleased to note the positive development of relations between the parliaments of our countries, especially the relations of our National Assembly with the State Duma. Our Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân will visit the Russian Federation at the end of 2019. We highly appreciate the fact that a high-level inter-parliamentary commission was created,” said Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, expressing confidence that the work of the commission will further strengthen cooperation between the countries.
“We look forward to Madam Chair,” said Viacheslav Volodin. According to him, the meeting of the high-level inter-parliamentary commission will be held already in Russia this year.
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, thanked the Russian side for their continued mutual support.
“We support each other in many regional and international issues, always assist each other in the development of our countries. We do not forget about the sincere support that you provided us. In this regard, I am very pleased that our states and governments are always making efforts to further strengthen relations between Vietnam and Russia,” he said.
According to Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, ”this will facilitate further cooperation between our countries and will allow us to overcome any difficulties and challenges that the modern world is facing today.“
Abolition
of visas is a priority
During the meeting, the Chairman of the State Duma and the Prime Minister of Vietnam discussed the further development of bilateral relations and partnership of the two countries in all areas, such as defense and security, economy and energy, culture and tourism.
“I am very pleased to note that the number of Russian tourists reached [in 2018] a record level of 700 thousand people,” said Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, adding that this figure increased by 10.8% compared to the previous year.
“I would also like to ask Russia to create favorable conditions for the issuance of tourist visas for Vietnamese citizens who wish to visit Russia,” suggested the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Viacheslav Volodin supported the proposal of Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, stating that the issue of abolishing visas should be considered as a priority.
“Your proposal for a visa-free entry also deserves attention and support. Indeed, we have reached a level when we need not only to discuss this issue but also we need to make decisions. We believe that it would be right for us to discuss and submit our proposals to the relevant departments as a matter of priority,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
In addition, he spoke in favor of expanding the opportunities for Vietnamese to study Russian in Russia in order to teach it in their own country in the future. “We will raise this issue before the Government, and for our part, we will do everything to increase the quota,” said the Chairman of the State Duma.
The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam also said that the trade turnover between Vietnam and Russia amounted to about $6 billion, and the Vietnamese side hopes that it will reach a record $10 billion by 2020.
“And for our part, we will do everything to ensure the legislative support for all issues arising in this area in order to achieve this result,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister invited Viacheslav Volodin to visit again the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the near future.
