RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was set to fly to Hanoi for a two-day visit to Vietnam before heading to a Group of Twenty (G20) meeting later this week in Indonesia, the Vietnamese government said.
The visit at the invitation of Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son comes as the two nations mark the 10th anniversary of their “comprehensive strategic partnership”, the government said.
Russia is Vietnam’s biggest arms supplier and its companies are involved in several major energy projects in the country.
The two nations have close relations dating back to the Soviet era and Vietnam has not so far condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”.
In April, Vietnam voted against a resolution to suspend Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council over the war.
Trade between Vietnam and Russia rose 25% last year to US$7.1bil (RM31bil), the statement said. — Reuters
