Vietnam party leader Trong invites Russia's Putin to visit, state media reports

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Reuters
Tue, March 26, 2024 

Russian President Putin shakes hand with Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen in Hanoi

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam Communist Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit the Southeast Asian country during a telephone call on Tuesday, Vietnamese state media reported.

Vietnam remains one of Russia's closest partners in Asia, ties developed during the Soviet era, and Hanoi is a major buyer of Russian weapons.

"President Putin happily accepted the invitation and agreed for the two sides to arrange (the visit) at a suitable time," the official Vietnam News Agency reported.


Vietnamese state media reported in October that Putin had accepted an invitation from Vietnam's president for a visit, but that has not taken place. The invitation was extended months after the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

In Tuesday's call, Trong congratulated Putin on being re-elected as Russian president, and sent his condolences to Russian people and families of the victims of the concert attack outside Moscow last week.

The leaders also discussed ways to promote cooperation in security, defence, trade and tourism.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ed Osmond)


Vietnam minister says president's resignation has not affected policies

David Brunnstrom and Simon Lewis
Updated Tue, March 26, 2024 

Plenary session of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Jakarta

By David Brunnstrom and Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Tuesday the resignation of the communist-ruled country's third president in little over a year has not affected Hanoi's foreign and economic policies, given its collective leadership and policymaking.

Asked during a visit to the United States about Vo Van Thuong's resignation last week, Son told Washington's Brookings Institution think tank Vietnam was undergoing an anti-corruption campaign that has been welcomed by the international community and businesses.

"The resignation of the president I think in Vietnam has not affect(ed) our foreign policy as well as our own policies of economic development," he said.

"If you look at the situation in Vietnam, we have collective leadership, we have collective foreign policy. We have collective-decided economic development."

Son cited Communist Party congresses held every five years where economic development plans are set out and agreed among party leaders. "And I think (if) one or two figures in the leadership has resigned, (it) does not change this situation."

Son, who held talks in Washington on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, said Vietnam hopes Washington will soon recognize it as a market economy.

The U.S. currently considers Vietnam a 'non-market economy' in import injury cases, which can lead to significantly higher anti-dumping duties and Hanoi's ambassador to Washington warned this year that maintaining the resulting punitive duties on Vietnamese goods is bad for increasingly close bilateral ties.Son said the United States and Vietnam should boost economic trade and investment cooperation after agreeing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership last year.

"We should focus on supply chain resilience, infrastructure connectivity, digital economy, energy, green economy and logistics," he said.

Thuong's resignation has raised questions about stability in Vietnam, given he was only elected last year after the sudden dismissal of his predecessor.

With accumulated foreign direct investment higher than its gross domestic product, Vietnam's stability is crucial to multinationals with large operations in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub, including U.S. firm Apple, which has many key suppliers in the country.

That stability, which has been guaranteed for decades by a state tightly controlled by the Communist Party, now looks less certain, analysts say, although they agree the current leadership changes will not impact the country's key policies, including its "bamboo diplomacy" aimed at keeping good relations with the United States and China at the same time.

Son said Vietnam sought good relations with all major powers and welcomed ongoing efforts to stabilize relations between the United States and China.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Writing by Caitlin Webber; Editing by Andrea Ricci)