Prime Minister Le Minh Hung's visit to Russia to attend ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit yields important outcomes
WVR - Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and the high-level Vietnamese delegation have successfully concluded their visit to attend the ASEAN-Russia 35th Anniversary Summit and engage in bilateral activities in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation from June 16 to 18, 2026, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes the heads of ASEAN member states attending the plenary session of the ASEAN-Russia Commemorate Summit. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac) |
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and the high-level Vietnamese delegation have successfully concluded their visit to attend the ASEAN-Russia 35th Anniversary Summit and engage in bilateral activities in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation from June 16 to 18, 2026, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This visit holds special significance as it marks the first visit to Russia by a key Vietnamese leader following the success of the 14th National Party Congress and the National Assembly session and elections of key leadership positions.
During the visit, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung had a very diverse and effective schedule, engaging in both multilateral and bilateral activities. The Prime Minister, along with the heads of ASEAN countries, attended the plenary session, the working lunch session of the ASEAN-Russia 35th Anniversary Summit, and the opening ceremony of the ASEAN-Russia Business Forum.
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| Prime Minister Le Minh Hung leads the high-level Vietnamese delegation at the plenary session of the ASEAN-Russia 35th Anniversary Summit - Photo VGP/Nhat Bac |
The Prime Minister met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov; received the General Director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kiril Dmitriev, the General Director of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) A. Likhachev, and the General Director of Zarubezhneft S. Kudryashov; and visited an exhibition showcasing Tatarstan's industrial, high-tech, and export potential.
The Prime Minister also met with staff and employees of the Embassy, Consulate General, and the Vietnamese community in Russia; attended the Vietnam-Russia trade and investment connection program, witnessed the signing of cooperation documents between businesses from both countries, and announced the opening of three new flight routes connecting Vietnam and Russia by Vietjet Airlines.
Leaders of ministries and sectors also had meetings with Russian partners to discuss the implementation of commitments between the two countries.
Making energy a key pillar of ASEAN-Russia cooperation
The visit demonstrates Vietnam's active support for Russia and ASEAN-Russia relations, as well as Vietnam's positive contribution to enhancing ASEAN's central role in the region.
As an active and responsible member of ASEAN and a leading Comprehensive Strategic Partner of Russia in the region, the high-level Vietnamese delegation led by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung made significant contributions to the overall outcomes of the ASEAN-Russia 35th Anniversary Summit, leaving a remarkable impression.
Accordingly, the Vietnamese delegation actively contributed to creating a more stable, balanced, and sustainable strategic environment; played a crucial role in repositioning ASEAN-Russia relations to be more strategic, resilient, substantive, and aligned with both parties' interests; and helped transform cooperation potentials into tangible benefits for the people and businesses of both countries.
In his speeches at the Summit, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung shared Vietnam's deep and objective assessments of the regional and international situation and the issues ASEAN and Russia need to address together.
The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always values the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Russia, supporting Russia in playing a more active role in peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the Asia-Pacific and the world.
Amid complex and unpredictable changes, the Prime Minister emphasized that ASEAN and Russia need to proactively create a more stable, balanced, and sustainable environment together, proposing three major directions to effectively and substantively promote ASEAN-Russia relations.
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| Prime Minister Le Minh Hung meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac) |
First, elevate the strategic relationship by regularly organizing ASEAN-Russia Summits, strengthening relations between AIPA and the Russian Parliament, and promoting shared core principles and values.
Second, enhance substantive cooperation by addressing logistics, market access, and payment mechanism bottlenecks, aiming to increase bilateral trade to 45 billion USD by 2035; promote cooperation in education, training, youth, culture, and tourism.
Third, enhance resilience and endurance, particularly by making energy a key pillar of cooperation, establishing priority mechanisms for the supply of fertilizers, animal feed raw materials, and agricultural technology; enhance digital resilience, contributing to the implementation of the Hanoi Convention on combating cybercrime.
The Prime Minister's message of a Vietnam that always values dialogue, cooperation, trust-building, peaceful dispute resolution, adherence to international law, and these core principles and values as a common code of conduct among nations was highly appreciated by the leaders of other countries.
Vietnam's proposals to enhance ASEAN-Russia relations to more effectively contribute to maintaining a peaceful, stable, and cooperative environment for development in both regions were strongly supported by the countries attending the Summit. Notably, the initiative to promote ASEAN-Russia energy cooperation has elevated the relationship, adding strategic and long-term content to bilateral cooperation. Additionally, measures to strengthen Eurasian integration help increase value and connect practical interests between ASEAN and Russia.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister also announced that Vietnam will host the ASEAN-Russia Young Diplomats Summit in 2027, demonstrating great interest in the next generation, thereby strengthening and fostering trust and further connecting the two regions.
Based on the cooperation needs, potential, and strengths of ASEAN and Russia, the Prime Minister proposed many specific and practical measures, including new directions such as establishing an ASEAN-EAEU business dialogue and online platforms linking businesses from both sides, developing inter-regional multimodal transport corridors and digital logistics maps, facilitating trade...
Proposals for adaptable agricultural supply chain cooperation, establishing priority mechanisms for the supply of fertilizers, animal feed raw materials, and agricultural technology also aim to support ASEAN and Vietnam's agriculture sector to increase resilience and develop more stably.
According to Politburo Member and Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung, through this Summit, we can confidently say that we are ready to play a bridging role, contributing to promoting trade and investment cooperation between ASEAN and the Russian Federation in the future, thereby turning potential into specific projects, turning connections into business opportunities, and turning trust into new growth drivers, thereby further contributing to promoting comprehensive and substantive relations between the two countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Vietnam for its close cooperation and positive contribution to the success of the Summit; emphasized that Vietnam plays a very important role in connecting Russia with ASEAN countries, promoting Russia's cooperation initiatives in the region.
Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Maxim Reshetnikov, assessed that Vietnam is currently one of the most active members of ASEAN and plays a crucial role in shaping the regional economic agenda. As one of the most dynamic economies in the world, Vietnam serves as an important bridge for Russian businesses to penetrate the market of over 680 million people in all Southeast Asian countries. The signing of the Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Vietnam has set a precedent for launching negotiations to establish a similar trade regime with other countries in the region.
Director of the ASEAN Center, MGIMO University under the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ekaterina Koldunova, stressed that the proposals made by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung at the Russia-ASEAN Business Forum are very reasonable and in line with the spirit of the times. For Russia, Vietnam is a model for energy cooperation with countries in the bloc, including nuclear energy. She affirmed that in the 35 years of Russia-ASEAN relations, Vietnam has played a good role as a solid bridge and expanded new pillars for the future.
Russian and international media have published numerous articles about the ASEAN-Russia 35th Anniversary Summit, highly appreciating the dynamism and responsibility of the high-level Vietnamese delegation led by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung with substantive and effective activities. Vietnam's contributions have contributed to the success of the Summit, further highlighting Vietnam's role and image on the international stage.
The visit to Russia achieved particularly important results
On the bilateral front, the visit to Russia achieved particularly important results. The Russian side accorded special attention and welcome to the Prime Minister and the high-level Vietnamese delegation. The bilateral activities with Russia this time, centered on the meeting with President Vladimir Putin, affirmed the determination of the high-level leaders of both countries to position and elevate the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the new era. President Putin affirmed that Vietnam is one of Russia's most important partners and a close friend in the region.
President Vladimir Putin spent a long time discussing with Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, and this effective meeting is a continuation of positive foreign activities, a step in implementing high-level agreements reached after the historic official visit to the Russian Federation by General Secretary To Lam (May 2025) and the phone call between General Secretary To Lam and President Putin immediately after the success of the 14th Party Congress (January 2026).
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| Prime Minister Le Minh Hung witnesses the announcement of the opening of 3 new flight routes connecting Vietnam and the Russian Federation by Vietjet Airlines. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac) |
President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Le Minh Hung both agreed that Vietnam-Russia relations are on the right track and have achieved outstanding results; they emphasized the importance of consolidating high-level political trust, agreeing to actively and effectively implement existing mechanisms and agreements.
The two leaders exchanged views on directions and measures to create breakthroughs for bilateral cooperation, bringing more practical results, meeting the modernization needs of each country in the new historical period, and effectively serving the development efforts of each nation.
Both sides agreed to enhance regular and substantive dialogue at all channels and levels; maintain exchanges between the leaders of the two countries to promptly discuss bilateral and multilateral issues. Both sides agreed that defense and security cooperation is a strategic pillar, promoting cooperation in cybersecurity and exchanges between the military personnel of the two countries.
Assessing that Vietnam-Russia cooperation is facing many opportunities and potentials, based on the agreed cooperation directions, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and President Vladimir Putin agreed to promote negotiations to soon implement the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant project, considering energy-oil and gas cooperation, nuclear power as one of the important pillars of Vietnam-Russia cooperation and to be implemented according to the correct roadmap.
The two leaders also agreed on directions to be implemented in the future, including cooperation in economic-trade, investment, science-technology, education, training, transportation, culture-tourism, to continue deepening cooperation.
In terms of economic-trade cooperation, both sides are determined to achieve the target of bilateral trade turnover soon reaching USD 15 billion; agreed to continue coordinating cooperation in mining industry, transportation, shipbuilding, railway modernization, expanding transport corridors, and international railway routes through China.
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| Prime Minister Le Minh Hung witnesses the signing of cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding between Vietnamese and Russian businesses. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac) |
Every Vietnamese abroad should be an ambassador of the nation
Despite a busy schedule, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and the high-level Vietnamese delegation took the time to meet with staff and employees of the representative missions and the Vietnamese community in Russia. This was also his first meeting with the overseas Vietnamese community in his capacity as Prime Minister.
Listening to the people's opinions, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung underlined that the Party and State leaders are very aware and deeply share the profound impact of international developments on the lives of the people; regularly directing the representative missions to pay great attention to citizen protection work, helping people in difficult times.
“We are also very heartened that in the face of difficulties and challenges, the people uphold the spirit of solidarity, mutual support, and assistance; the more difficult the times, the more the good traditions and virtues of the Vietnamese people are promoted,” the Prime Minister expressed.
According to Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, the Russian Federation is one of the locations with a large and historically significant Vietnamese community. Throughout the various stages of Vietnam-Russia relations, the Vietnamese community in Russia has always accompanied the country, making positive contributions to fostering the traditional friendship between the two nations.
The Prime Minister hopes that the Vietnamese community in Russia will continue to promote the tradition of patriotism, creativity, dynamism, and the special advantages they possess to contribute more to the country's development; that Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Russia will continue to expand their investment and business activities; become a bridge to bring Vietnamese goods into the Russian and Eurasian Economic Union markets; and at the same time bring advanced products, technologies, and management experiences from Russia to Vietnam; strengthen connections with domestic research institutions, universities, and businesses; actively participate in innovation programs, digital transformation, scientific and technological development, and high-quality human resource training for Vietnam.
The Prime Minister also hopes that the young generation of Vietnamese in Russia will continue to strive in their studies, integrate with the local community, preserve the Vietnamese language and culture, nurture a love for their homeland, and become global citizens with a Vietnamese identity.
The Prime Minister believes that the Vietnamese community in Russia will continue to be a pioneering force in strengthening people-to-people exchanges, promoting economic, trade, scientific-technology, and educational cooperation between the two countries; serving as a solid bridge to further deepen the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Emphasizing that every Vietnamese abroad should be an ambassador of the Vietnamese nation, the Prime Minister hopes that the people will continue to unite, comply with local laws, build the image of a civilized, compassionate, successful, and integrated Vietnamese community; continue to be a pioneering force, a solid bridge contributing to further deepening the Vietnam-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; and always look towards the homeland with practical actions, joining hands to build a strong and prosperous Vietnam.
The Prime Minister affirmed that the Party, State, and Government consistently consider overseas Vietnamese as an inseparable part of the Vietnamese national community. The Party and State will continue to improve mechanisms and policies to create the most favorable conditions for the people to preserve their cultural identity, stabilize their lives, ensure their legitimate rights and interests, and participate more deeply in the country's development efforts.
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung's first official visit to the Russian Federation in his new role was a great success, conveying Vietnam's important message in implementing an independent, self-reliant, resilient, multilateral, and diversified foreign policy, promoting relations with neighboring countries and major partners, and making positive contributions to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
