Vietnam’s top leader To Lam yesterday wound up a state visit to Russia during which he and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to develop their cooperation in the realms of trade, energy, and defense.
Lam arrived in Russia on Monday for a three-day visit, before departing yesterday for France, where he was scheduled to meet with President Emmanuel Macron and attend the International Space Summit in Paris.
During the visit, Lam, who serves both as president and general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), held talks with Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, and other high-ranking officials.
Ahead of their meeting, Putin praised Vietnam’s “impressive results” under the CPV’s rule, and said that he was “delighted” to welcome Lam and his delegation to the Kremlin. In turn, the Vietnamese leader described Putin as “a great friend of our country,” and said that Hanoi views its relationship with Moscow as “a priority, a consistent pillar of our foreign policy, and a strategic choice of enduring significance.” Both sides made ample reference to the Cold War-era cooperation between communist North Vietnam and the Soviet Union.
