Vietnam among Russia's key partners in Asia

Russia is willing to boost cooperation with Vietnam as it is one of priorities in its Asia policy, said Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrey G. Kovtun on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi to brief the development of bilateral relationship between Russia and Vietnam, the Russian diplomat said the year 2013 witnessed the dynamic development of the bilateral ties as the two countries maintained high-level contacts and visits, including Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's tour to Russia in May and Russian President Vladimir Putin's official visit to Vietnam in November. The regular exchange of delegations reflected the depth of the bilateral ties and the two sides' determination to accelerate cooperation, the e-portal of the Vietnamese government on Wednesday quoted the Russian diplomat as saying. The two-way trade turnover reached 3.15 billion U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of 2013, an increase of 2 percent year-on-year. The figure is expected to reach 7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 and 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, said the ambassador. Kovtun said that the two sides have made progress in cooperation in energy, national defense and security, culture, education, tourism, science and technology, contributing to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries