At the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 19-20 June. This is reported by the official website of the President of Russia.

It is expected to hold a series of meetings with high-ranking officials of Vietnam.

The parties will discuss the state and prospects for further development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Vietnam in trade, economic, scientific, technological and humanitarian fields.

In an exclusive commentary to TV BRICS, expert in economics of BRICS, SCO and ASEAN countries Mikhail Khachaturyan emphasised that the key topic will be the development of economic cooperation. 

“Vietnam is the third largest economy in Asia. The most important aspects of the discussion will be Vietnam’s trade and economic relations with Russia. Vietnam is interested in supplies of Russian energy carriers, metallurgy products, chemical industry, agricultural products, especially grain (wheat and rye). In turn, Russia is obviously interested in expanding the range of supplies of Vietnamese products, namely: fruit and vegetable products, light industry products”

Mikhail Khachaturyan Associate Professor of Department of Strategic and Innovative Development of Financial University under Government of the Russian Federation

The expert also emphasised that Vietnam is interested in deepening cooperation with the BRICS countries and it is obvious that in the context of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship in 2024, these aspects will also be actively discussed during the talks. 

In the expert’s opinion, Vietnam is a very active member of ASEAN and this can help expand the range of interaction between the two major economic groupings. 

“Many major Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia have shown interest not only in expanding interaction but also in joining BRICS as full members. Vietnam has not yet officially announced its desire to join the association, but in the future it is quite possible. At the same time, even the current format of interaction makes it possible to significantly strengthen the BRICS position in Southeast Asia and form new options for economic interaction, supply chains and transport corridors,” he stated.

The expert highlighted that the development of these aspects will contribute to strengthening the economic position of both BRICS and Vietnam, and, in the long term, of the whole of Southeast Asia.

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