Moscow (VNA) - President Tran Dai Quang,his spouse and a Vietnamese delegation left Saint Petersburg city on July 1,concluding a four-day official visit to Russia at the invitation of PresidentVladimir Putin.

Earlier on the same day, the Vietnamese Presidentmet Governor of Saint Petersburg city Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenkoin the Smolny City Hall and representatives of local businesses.

The Governor said Vietnam is a key and importantpartner of the city, adding that the relations between the city and Vietnameselocalities, particularly Ho Chi Minh City and the southern province of KhanhHoa, have been built on firm foundations.

He mentioned his visit to HCM City in December2015 during which the two sides signed numerous agreements on trade andtourism.

Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenko underlinededucation – training as an important aspect in the cooperation between his cityand Vietnamese localities, saying that thousands of Vietnamese officials have beentrained in Saint Petersburg, which is now home to more than 300 Vietnamesestudents.

Around 25 cooperation agreements have beensigned between Saint Petersburg and Vietnamese universities. The city housesthe first Ho Chi Minh Institute outside the territory of Vietnam.

Trade between Saint Petersburg and Vietnameseprovinces and cities reached 100 million USD in the first quarter of this year,the Governor said, expressing his belief that the effective Vietnam-EAEU freetrade agreement will help boost the figure.

Besides businesses effectively operating inVietnam, many others from the city have eyed investment in the country,particularly in areas of their strength such as mechanical engineering,electricity device production, port infrastructure development, and watertreatment, he said.

He expressed his belief that the official visitof President Tran Dai Quang will create an important impetus for the economic,trade and investment ties between Vietnam and Russia, including SaintPetersburg.

He revealed that his city plans to launch thefirst-ever photo exhibition featuring late President Ho Chi Minh at theErmitage Museum in May 2019, as part of the activities to mark the 25thanniversary of the treaty on the basic principles for Vietnam-Russiafriendship.

For his part, President Tran Dai Quang expressedhis admiration for the significant achievements the city has made, saying that itdeserves to be an economic, cultural, tourism and educational hub of Russia.

Expressing his delight at the fruitful multifacetedcooperation between Vietnam and Russia, the President spoke highly of theefforts made by the localities of the two nations to consolidate therelationship.

The regular exchange of delegations has contributed to boosting Vietnam-Russiaeconomic and trade ties, he said, adding the effective collaboration betweenthe two countries’ localities will be a factor propelling the bilateralrelationship. Two-way trade value between Vietnam and Russia reached 1.1billion USD in the first four months of this year.

In addition to enhancing cooperation intraditional sectors like oil and gas, energy, education and culture, the twosides have expanded collaboration to new fields, including automobilemanufacturing, space cooperation for peace, railway, and infrastructureconstruction.

Hailing the fine connection between SaintPetersburg and Vietnamese localities, the President affirmed that Vietnam willcontinue creating the most favourable conditions for the relationship todevelop in a more practical and effective manner.

Also on July 1, the Vietnamese State leader andhis entourage visited the Monument to Lenin inthe Smolny City Hall and the ongoing eighth International MaritimeDefence Show MVMS-2017 at the Lenexpo exhibition complex in the city.

He also visited the ancient Ekaterina Palace -one of the architectural icons of Russia and the world - in Pushkin city, around30 kilometres south of Saint Petersburg.-VNA