Russia Optimistic About Cooperation with VietnamRussian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Tuesday said he saw "good opportunities to intensify cooperation with Vietnam in political, economic, military and cultural spheres."Opening talks with his visiting Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Dy Nien, Ivanov said the active Russian-Vietnamese cooperation is one of Russia's diplomatic priorities in South Asia. Moscow "attributes special importance to relations with friendly Vietnam," the foreign minister said, and "now there are the most favorable conditions for expanding cooperation between our countries in all areas -- political, economic, military- technical and humanitarian." Ivanov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Hanoi and the documents signed then laid the foundation for long-term strategic partnership between the two countries. It was the time to discuss ways of realizing these agreements, in particular, ways to fulfill the Russian-Vietnamese Declaration of Strategic Partnership, he added. Nguyen called Putin's March visit a historic event, saying that the bilateral relations "have entered a qualitatively new stage." The Vietnamese foreign minister also reaffirmed Vietnam's opposition to scrapping the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty as cornerstone of global strategic stability. |
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