Hanoi and Moscow in anti-Chinese bilateral cooperation
Hanoi ( AsiaNews)
- An Economic Partnership and bilateral cooperation at all levels, even military,
were the two key points of the official visit of Russian President Vladimir
Putin to Vietnam, on 12 November. This
is the third trip of the head of the Kremlin to Hanoi, a one day visit, however,
of major significance for the entire Asia-Pacific region . Moscow
, in fact, intends to strengthen its relations with the nations of the South-
east Asian to counter the hegemony of Beijing and increase commercial
initiatives . Among
the objectives, joint Moscow / Hanoi explorations in the South China Sea for
oil and natural gas, a delicate point, since the waters of the region are the
focus of a bitter dispute with Beijing and the for some time now there has been
the increasingly real hypothesis of an open conflict for their control.
Comments
on the visit in major Vietnamese newspapers report that President Putin spoke
of "relations of mutual respect, trust and aid" between the two
countries . "We
very much appreciate - continues the Russian leader - impartial cooperation,
disinterested support and honesty with each other".
A
new impetus to the negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement ( FTA ) between
Vietnam , Russia and Moscow's satellite nations such as Belarus and Kazakhstan
were among the priorities highlighted by the Kremlin. Hanoi
and Moscow also intend to accelerate the project of construction of the nuclear
power plant Number 1 Ninh Thuan , in south-central Vietnam , giving rise to a
specialized center for the study of nuclear technology for civilian purposes.
In
2012, bilateral trade between the two nations reached $ 3.6 billion in the
first eight months of 2013 it reached a total of 1.88 billion. To
date Moscow is the 18th of 101 countries to invest in Vietnam; a common goal,
by 2020, is to reach a total turnover of 10 billion dollars.
Cooperation
in the energy field is of particular (mutual) interest: from the construction
of a nuclear power plant and drilling in Russia to seabed exploration off the
coast of Vietnam . The
Russian giant Rosneft Petro has signed an agreement with the National Oil
Corporation of Vietnam ( Petro Vietnam) for the development of joint research
projects , starting from the drilling in Block 15-1/05, off the coast of
Vietnam. The
cooperation also includes the metallurgical, aviation and automobile industries.
If
the governments of Moscow and Hanoi concentrate on the business and economic
development potential, the Vietnamese population observes possible future
developments with concern. In
particular, over the atomic projects in an area (the center - south of Vietnam
) prone to typhoons , storms and other natural phenomena. Inhabitants
wonder how it is possible that the various leaders have not learned anything
from the tragedies of Fukushima in Japan and Chernobyl in the former Soviet
Union ? This
is why the citizens hope that there is increasing attention and awareness among
governments on natural disasters and the measures to be taken in the context of
prevention.
.png)
