Vietnamese President: Relations with Russia are a "priority" in our foreign policy

Moscow, Sept 9 (KUNA) -- Vietnamese President To Lam affirmed on Wednesday that relations with Russia constitute a priority in his country’s foreign policy, emphasizing Hanoi’s commitment to further developing bilateral cooperation across various fields. The Russian presidency said in a statement that this came during To Lam’s state visit to Russia, during which he also serves as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The statement quoted To Lam as expressing, during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, his gratitude to Putin and the Russian people for advancing bilateral cooperation.

For his part, Putin affirmed, according to the statement, that the two countries would continue joint work in the field of security, noting that bilateral trade volume rose by about 6 percent last year, and that the growth rate doubled during the first six months of 2026, reflecting the continued expansion of economic and trade cooperation.

In the context of the visit, Putin and To Lam participated via video conference in the opening ceremony of a laboratory for studying and preventing infectious diseases at the joint Russian-Vietnamese Center for Tropical Research and Technology in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

Putin praised the laboratory’s opening, describing it as a model of scientific and technical cooperation and evidence of the development of the strategic partnership between the two countries. He added that it would enhance cooperation in health, epidemiological, and biological safety, contribute to the study, prevention, and control of infectious diseases, and aid in developing treatment methods.

The talks between the two sides covered prospects for developing bilateral relations and cooperation in trade, economic, scientific, technological, security, and defense fields, as well as a number of international and regional issues of common interest. (End) D.A.N./A.S.