Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a visit to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on June 30, 2022. Photo by AFP

 

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov will visit Vietnam on Jul. 5 and 6 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son.

 

VN Express reports that his visit takes place at a time when the two nations are marking the 10th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership, Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

 

Vietnam and the then Soviet Union established diplomatic relations in 1950.

 

Russia, the latter's successor state, and Vietnam elevated it into a strategic partnership in 2001 and into a comprehensive strategic partnership 11 years later.

 

Relations between the two have been strengthened through exchanges of delegations and bilateral meetings at all levels.

 

Their trade was worth US$7.1 billion last year following a 25 percent jump from 2020.

 

Russia has 151 projects in Vietnam with total investment of more than $950 million.

 

During his visit to Russia from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2 last year, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc joined his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to issue a joint statement on the vision of the comprehensive strategic partnership for until 2030, which seeks cooperation in all fields.

 

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It seems the Russians are becoming desperate to strengthen ties, as they have been shunned by the world. I really hope that Vietnam doesn’t sign trade deals now. Because Russia is suffering due to sanctions and desperately needs goods in the country.

However, they have created this situation with the invasion of eastern Ukraine.