Tatarstan President: High-tech products made in Tatarstan are well-known in Vietnam

On November 20, during his working visit to the city of Ho Chi Minh, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the Vietnam – Tatarstan business forum. Consul General of the Russian Federation in Ho Chi Minh Alexey Popov and Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City's People's Committee Le Thanh Liem were also present at the forum.

Welcoming the Vietnamese colleagues, Minnikhanov noted that Tatarstan attaches great importance to the development of cooperation with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as part of Russia-Vietnam relations.

"Russia and Vietnam are old friends. This was again confirmed by the meeting of the Presidents of Russia and Vietnam during the APEC Summit held in Da Nang. Thanks to their intensive joint work, the comprehensive strategic partnership relations are filled with practical content in many areas," Tatarstan President said. “We are grateful to the leaders of our countries for their attention paid to the creation of favorable conditions for expanding interregional cooperation. In its turn, Tatarstan is ready to contribute to the development of business ties," he continued.

According to Minnikhanov, high-tech products made in Tatarstan, inluding KAMAZ trucks and Mi-17 helicopters, are well known in Vietnam. Zelenodolsk Shipyard have built four Gepard frigates for the needs of the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam. Two of them have been put on alert. The other two ships are planned to be delivered to Vietnam before the end of this year.

“In general, there is great potential for developing ties with Vietnamese companies in such areas as oil refining and petrochemicals, power engineering, machine building, automotive industry and production of car components, IT and other high technology, medicine and pharmaceutical industry, agriculture and others," Tatarstan President said.

According to him, cooperation in the scientific and educational sphere has great potential. A representative office of the Kazan National Research Technological University was opened at the partner university in the city of Viet Tri in 2014. A number of other universities in the republic maintain ties with Vietnamese partners. "A lot of foreign students study at our universities. Over 80 students and post-graduate students are from Vietnam. We will be glad to increase their number, " Minnikhanov addressed the forum participants.

We have experience of cooperation in the field of culture as well, he continued. "About 600 Vietnamese live in our region. They established their national cultural society – Doanket at the Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan and regularly hold their national holidays, events, promote the rapprochement of peoples living in Russia and strengthening interethnic friendship,” Minnikhanov added.

Tatarstan President invited athletes and fans from Vietnam to attend major sporting events that will be held in Kazan such as the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and the WorldSkills Championship in 2019.