Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Parliament visits Vietnam: Important highlights

After nearly 5 years, Mr. Vacheslav Viktorovich Volodin returned to Vietnam for the second time as Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Parliament.

At the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Victorovich Volodin will officially visit Vietnam from October 15-16.

This visit takes place on the occasion of Vietnam and Russia celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (1913-2023). 2023 also marks the 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's arrival in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In this special year, Saint Petersburg will hold a ceremony to install a statue of President Ho Chi Minh - the fifth statue of the great leader of the Vietnamese people in the land of birch trees.

In an interview with the press ahead of the visit, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee Nguyen Manh Tien said that this visit took place after the visit to the Russian Federation by National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan in 2019. During the visit, in Moscow, the Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam and the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation co-chaired the First Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

This is the second time Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vacheslav Viktorovich Volodin has visited Vietnam. Previously, in 2018, he paid an official visit to Vietnam from December 23-24.

During the talks and meetings in 2018, the two sides emphasized that the visit was of utmost importance, continuing the exchange of high-ranking delegations between the two countries, while strengthening the extensive cooperation between the two countries and the two parliaments, marking a new step of development in the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

A notable result of the 2018 visit was the signing of an agreement on the establishment of an inter-parliamentary cooperation committee between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Russian State Duma. This is the first time the Vietnamese National Assembly has established a bilateral inter-parliamentary cooperation mechanism with the parliament of another country.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee Nguyen Manh Tien said: The Vietnamese National Assembly has relations and cooperation agreements with the National Assemblies/Parliaments of many countries through parliamentary friendship organizations. However, the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee mechanism is the highest and first model of parliamentary cooperation between our National Assembly and a foreign legislative body, with the Chairman of our National Assembly and the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation as co-Chairmen of the Committee.

With this new cooperation mechanism, Vietnam and Russia will promote cooperation in potential fields, especially parliamentary cooperation, bringing the traditional cooperative relationship between the two countries to a new height.

During the visit, in addition to high-level meetings, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Volodin will co-chair the Second Session of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. It is expected that the two sides will review the implementation of agreements between the two countries, thereby promoting and supporting them to achieve good results; at the same time, listen to and consider issues that need to be adjusted and supplemented so that the cooperation between the two countries can achieve the best results.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee Nguyen Manh Tien said the visit will contribute to strengthening and further promoting the cooperative relationship between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the State Duma of the Russian Federation in particular, strengthening political trust and promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in general.

The presence of the head of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in Hanoi also demonstrates the respect of the Russian Federation's leadership for Vietnam and is an important highlight in the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the context of the two countries implementing the Joint Statement on the Vision of the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to 2030.