OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2015. Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks

Meeting with Russian and Vietnamese business representativesI welcome the opportunity to meet with you in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s business capital. I’d like to express my appreciation to Vietnam’s leaders who made this dialogue possible. Clearly, such meetings were held before. Russian and Vietnamese businesses keep in touch with each other and, in any case, these meetings are useful. Informal exchanges of views are particularly beneficial. I hope today’s discussion will give a new impetus to our economic relations. We’ll discuss the current state of affairs and then talk about future cooperation.

Regarding the current situation, clearly, Vietnam’s economy is integrated into the business world of the Asia-Pacific Region and Southeast Asia. The economy is developing in a very competitive and dynamic environment of various projects, ideas, and technological advances. Russia is seeking to be part of the processes that are taking place in this region and to enjoy a stronger position in Asia-Pacific markets. Actually, we have been moving towards this goal for a long time now, but for understandable reasons this issue has been a higher priority in the last few years.

Yesterday, I had substantive talks with all the leaders of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. We discussed our cooperation across numerous sectors, including energy, the manufacturing industry, investment and the humanitarian sphere. We signed several important documents. Most importantly – and both the Russian and the Vietnamese side agree – we have major plans for the future and a strong desire to work together.

Current trade between Russia and Vietnam amounts to about \\$4 billion. This figure varies. On average, Russian exports have been growing by 12 percent a year, and Vietnamese imports by about 30 percent. The growth rates are steady, except for last year when the Russian economy was in a tough spot. However, we can do much better in terms of mutual trade (something everyone acknowledges), especially since it has a good structure that includes, in addition to natural resources, a high percentage of machinery and textile and chemical industry items, as well as a number of other products.

Accumulated mutual investments total approximately \\$4.3 billion, with over 100 projects with Russian participation underway in Vietnam. Major joint ventures, such as Vietsovpetro, Vietgazprom and Rosneft Vietnam, operate here, in southern Vietnam. Plans are in place to build a new Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant and Long Phu 1 Thermal Power Plant. This doesn’t mean that we should discuss only these projects, all the more so since most of the decisions regarding them have already been taken. We (I mean, Russia) would like to provide more favourable conditions for your work at the national and state-to-state level by way of improving the business climate and removing unnecessary administrative barriers. We will keep in touch regarding these issues.