Russia and Vietman military plan cooperation for 2018.

At the 19th meeting of the bilateral Russian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) for Military-Technical Cooperation held in Hanoi, Russia and Vietnam have approved a plan for military-technical cooperation for 2018, the army newspaper Quan Doi Nhan Zan reported.

Vietnamese military members march during an honor guard ceremony at the Ministry of Defense in Hanoi, Vietnam, Aug. 14, 2014. (Source U.S. Department of Defense)

Deputy Minister of National Defense of Vietnam Colonel General Be Suan Chuong and Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of Russia Vladimir Drozhzhov, co-chairmen of the Vietnamese and Russian parts of the IGC, expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the agreements reached at the 18th meeting of the Commission in October 2016 in Moscow. The sides noted that cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres continues to be one of the foundations for a comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

During the current meeting of the IGC, the issues related to the implementation of the previously approved strategy for the Vietnamese-Russian military and technical cooperation for 2016-2020 were also considered in addition to the plan for bilateral military-technical cooperation for 2018. The co-chairmen of the IGC stressed the importance of further activation of the Vietnamese-Russian partnership in the military-technical cooperation in the forthcoming period. Of particular importance, according to them, is cooperation in the naval area, in the training of military personnel, as well as the mechanism of strategic dialogue between the two countries in the field of defense.

Russia has remained a traditional partner for Vietnam in the military sphere and the main supplier of weapons and military equipment to the country for many years. The Vietnamese army has the latest Russian weapons, including combat aircraft, ships, small arms and special equipment, in service. Over the past years, the sides signed contracts worth more than $4.5 billion to supply the Russian defense industry products to Vietnam. The most significant of them were a contract for the purchase of a batch of Sukhoi Su-30MK2 multi-purpose fighters by Vietnam, estimated at about $1 billion, and an agreement on the sale of six Project 636.1 diesel-electric submarines worth about $2 billion.

Since 2010, Russia has delivered many military equipment to Vietnam including Igla-1/SA-16 MANPADS, K-300P Bastion-P coastal defence system, different types of combat ships, submarines and fighter aircraft.