Vietnam is committed to preserving and developing cooperation with Russia regardless of changing international circumstances, Deputy Defense Minister Hoang Xuan Chien told senior Russian officials during his visit to Moscow this week.
“Whatever difficulties Russia faces, Vietnam always supports Russia,” the general told Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Thursday. Later in the day, he reiterated the message to Deputy Prime Minister for Tourism, Sport, Culture and Communications Dmitry Chernyshenko: “Vietnam will be with you under any circumstances.”
The senior Vietnamese military official was visiting Russia to update the strategic roadmap for long-term cooperation, which Moscow and Hanoi agreed to develop two years ago. According to Chernyshenko, the Russian government has almost completed its contribution for the comprehensive document and will soon deliver it to its Vietnamese partners.
“We are interested in improving bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas, including commerce and investment, science, technology, education and culture,” the deputy prime minister said.
He added that Russian-Vietnamese ties were “built on a strong foundation of friendship and years-long mutually beneficial cooperation.”
Russian military officials also discussed with their Vietnamese guest future plans for the joint Tropical Center, a Hanoi-based research facility which celebrated its 35th anniversary in March. It conducts studies in areas ranging from medicine to material sciences, which may have practical defense applications.
The work of the center allows Vietnam “to improve the resilience of arms and hardware which we bought from the USSR and Russia, and also protect the health of submarine crews, military pilots, and soldiers deployed in harsh conditions,” Hoang Xuan Chien, who chairs the Vietnamese committee in charge of the site, said.