Vladimir Putin, who is staying an extra day in Vietnam's capital following the conference, held a closed-door meeting with Nguyen Minh Triet to discuss means of diversifying cooperation, including in the nuclear power and hydrocarbon sectors, and developing bilateral trade.
"Our task is to diversify our relations, primarily through science-intensive products, engineering goods, communications services, space activities, and investment," Putin told a news conference after the meeting, adding that Russia could invest billions of dollars in the southeast Asian country's economy.
Five agreements have been signed following the Russian delegation's talks in Hanoi, after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum held on November 18-19, attended by world leaders including Untied States President George W. Bush and Chinese leader Hu Jintao. The president-led Russian delegation also includes the foreign minister and the country's business leaders.
Energy cooperation
A joint declaration signed by the presidents at the meeting said the countries will reorganize their joint oil venture Vietsovpetro, Vietnam's largest crude producer, to explore new deposits and expand to third countries.
A bilateral agreement on the JV, formed in 1981, which has proved to be one of Vietnam's most productive joint ventures accounting for about 65% of the country's oil production, expires in 2010.
The two presidents have recommended that their governments outline principles for extending the bilateral agreement on Vietsovpetro, and that talks on cooperation in oil prospecting and production be completed by 2008.
The reorganization of Vietsovpetro envisages joint prospecting on Vietnam's White Tiger and Dragon deposits, the launching of new projects, and the expansion of the JV's operations to third countries.
Vietsovpetro has started building a $300 million natural gas pipeline in southern Vietnam as part of a $1.2 billion project to build an energy and nitrogen complex, including two electric power plants and a nitrogen processing facility at a total cost of $900 million.
In 2006-2010, Vietsovpetro plans to produce 37-40 million metric tons of crude and 6.5 billion cubic meters of associated gas.
Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom said it plans to cooperate with Vietnamese oil and gas company Petrovietnam in geological prospecting and natural gas production, and in exporting the southeast Asian state's gas to third countries.
Gazprom and Petrovietnam signed an agreement on gas exports Monday.
"Gazprom is already working in Vietnam. We are conducting geological prospecting of [natural gas] deposits," said Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, also in Hanoi as part of Russia's delegation.
Officially known as Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation, Petrovietnam has developed rapidly since it was established three decades ago, and its activities now cover operations from oil and gas exploration and production to storage, processing, transportation, distribution, and services.
Commenting on the cooperation agreement signed between the Russian and Vietnamese energy companies, Miller said the document covers many areas including gas prospecting and production, as well developing the Vietnam's gas transport and storage system.
President Putin also said after his meeting that Russia was prepared to cooperate with Vietnam in the sphere of nuclear power.
"We intend both to expand our interaction in the energy sector and to cooperate in the sphere of nuclear power," he said, adding that Russian companies were involved in the modernization and construction of nuclear power plants in Vietnam, and would continue this work.
Developing bilateral trade
President Putin said the potential of the Russian economy and of some Russian companies was considerable, and expressed his hope that this potential would be tapped by Vietnam.
Bilateral trade has increased three-fold in the past five years and reached a record level of $1 billion last year, Putin said, adding that both countries had strong prospects in the sphere of telecommunications, metallurgy, agri-business and transport.
Cooperation in the financial sector
The countries' central banks signed a document on banking oversight, and Russian savings bank Sberbank signed a deal with Vietnam's Foreign Trade Bank on implementing an inter-governmental tourism agreement.
The president of Russia's largest privately-owned bank Alfa Bank, Pyotr Aven, also part of the Russian business delegation to the APEC summit, said financial cooperation between Russia and Vietnam has a promising future.
"Vietnam is a dynamically developing country with a bright future... We have many interests here, primarily related to financial activities."
