Addressing the meeting participants, Mr Putin reiterated Russia’s interest in strengthening Vietnam’s leading role in the Asia-Pacific Region. He said mutual sympathies between the two countries were based on serious geopolitical interests.
Among graduates of Soviet and Russian universities and colleges are many leaders of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. President Tran Duc Luong graduated from the Moscow Mining Institute. Chairman of the National Assembly (parliament) Nong Duc Manh studied at the Leningrad Forestry Institute, while Prime Minister Phan Van Khai is a graduate of the Plekhanov Moscow Institute of National Economy.
See also
Official Visit to Vietnam
March 1 − 2, 2001