Русский
Russia’s Maritime Board Chairman, Nikolai Patrushev, and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Phan Van Giang have signed a plan for maritime cooperation between the two countries for the period to 2030. Russian-Vietnamese consultations on maritime issues held in Moscow on Friday (May 22) discussed cooperation in naval activity, shipbuilding, ship repairs, and maritime personnel training.
They paid particular attention to interaction in promoting the safety of merchant shipping and discussed military-technical cooperation and the joint use of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor in the interests of both countries.
Officials from Russian and Vietnamese ministries and other agencies and representatives of several shipbuilding corporations took part in the consultations. Phan Van Giang, whom the Vietnamese leadership authorized to engage with the Russian Maritime Board, arrived in Moscow at Patrushev’s invitation.
The move to use the Arctic is almost certainly linked to plans to provide oil and gas supplies to Vietnam from Russia’s Yamal Peninsula.
Russia is also engaging on a substantial maritime fleet development programme and is spending over US$6 billion to develop over 1,300 new vessels over the next decade. It built 151 ships in 2025 alone, and needs to develop alternatives to the so-called ‘grey fleet’ of older merchant vessels it acquired to boost maritime capacity in the wake of Western sanctions.
Russia is developing and implementing plans for maritime cooperation with several countries, and aims build ships, strengthen technological ties, develop infrastructure, and improve transportation efficiency.
These include arrangements with India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the CIS countries, while China has been investing in several Russian Ports to upgrade capacities. Vietnam also has significant shipbuilding and repair facilities.
