The five-day official visit to Russia by Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, which was wrapped up on late Monday, was seen to elevate the Vietnam-Russia strategic partnership into a higher "comprehensive" level, both in depth and a sustainable manner.

The remarks were made by Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh while responding to reporters' queries about outcomes of Sang 's just-ended visit to Russia, the first of his visit in his position as Vietnamese president and which was made at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Vietnam and Russia officially established diplomatic ties on January 1950, and signed a joint declaration on Vietnam-Russia strategic partnership in March 2011.

After 11 years of development, Sang's visit to Russia this time and a released joint statement during his visit reflected the common perception and desire of both sides' leaders and peoples to further expand all-round cooperation between the two countries, said the Vietnamese FM.

Politically, the two sides agreed to increase more and effective dialogues, maintain meetings between high-ranking leaders with their determination of cementing their comprehensive strategic partnership towards practical and sustainable goals.

Economically, they focused on major pillars for cooperation, including trade, oil and gas, energy and military technique, science and technology, education and training, and culture and tourism.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Russia accounts for only a modest proportion in each country's trade value. Bilateral trade reached 1.98 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, an increase of 8.1 percent over the previous year. In the first five months of this year, it reached 918.8 million U.S. dollars.

The two sides agreed to soon sign a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Customs Union (comprising Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan), as well as increase two-way trade to 5 billion U. S. dollars by 2015 and 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

Currently investment between the two countries is still modest. As of May 2012, Russia has 78 projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of nearly 1 billion U.S. dollars, ranking 23rd among 92 foreign investors in the country.

Vietnam's investment in Russia has increased from 100 million U. S. dollars in 2008 to 776 million U.S. dollars at present.

Energy cooperation is the spotlight in the Vietnam-Russia relations and has achieved important goals. Both sides pledged to implement strategic cooperation projects especially in oil and gas and atomic energy sectors.

In Oct. 2010, the two countries signed an inter-governmental agreement on the construction of Vietnam's first nuclear power plant. Russia committed to putting the nuclear power plants in Vietnam into operation safely and at the highest quality.

Apart from extending the operation period of the Vietsovpetro joint venture to 2030, the two sides agreed to continue expanding their cooperation in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Vietnam and Russia, and in the third countries, in the coming time.

Military technical cooperation between the two countries was said to continue developing, contributing to strengthening Vietnam 's security and defense in particular, to peace and stability in the region in general, as well as raising Russia's position and influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since 2008, the two countries have established a mechanism on annual strategic diplomatic, security and defense dialogue at the deputy foreign ministerial level. So far, they have signed more than 60 bilateral documents, which have provided legal framework for developing bilateral ties.

Russia's welcome to the visit by Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang manifested Russian President Vladimir Putin's viewpoint to consider Vietnam as Russia's second important partner in the Asia-Pacific region, after China, which he announced in his new foreign policy decree after he took the office as Russian President on May 7, 2012.