Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Feb. 26 (VNA) -- Cooperation between Viet Nam and first the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation has brought about fruitful results, particularly in oil and gas, energy and training during the past 50 years.

* Oil and Gas

Oil and gas is the most successful example of economic cooperation between Viet Nam and the Russia Federation.

The oil and gas joint venture, Vietsovpetro was established in 1986 and the biggest and most efficient project between the two countries. It had tapped about 80 million tonnes of crude oil or 80 percent of Viet Nam's total pumped tonnage by mid-February, earning almost 30 percent of the country's export revenue.

The 15-affiliate joint venture employs almost 6,000 people with Vietnamese employees accounting for 88 percent. It aims to bring ashore between 15-16 million tonnes of crude oil a year.

Construction of the Dzung Quat Oil Refinery, the first in Viet Nam and also a joint venture between Viet Nam and Russia, started in Quang Ngai central province in October last year.

The 50-50 joint venture has a total investment of USD 1.3 billion, including USD 800 million in legal capital. Once commissioned, the refinery will turn out 6.5 million tonnes of products a year. The project is located adjacent to the 14,000-ha Dzung Quat industrial complex, which will be formed in the near future.

* Energy:

The Russian stamp can be found in various power plants across the country.

With capital and technical help from the Russian Federation, the 1,920MW Hoa Binh hydro-electric power plant, the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, was put into operation in 1994.

The Yaly hydro-electric power plant, the second biggest in Viet Nam with a capacity of 720MW, was also built with help from Russia.

Viet Nam received huge assistance from the former Soviet Union during the course of building the Pha Lai and Uong Bi thermo-power plants in the 80s.

Russian investors have shown their interest in other energy development projects in Viet Nam, including the 3,600MW Son La hydro-electric power project in the northern highland province of Son La and the 100MW Na Duong thermo power plant in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

* Training

Almost 33,200 Vietnamese intellectuals and education and training administrators and 25,500 skilled workers were trained in the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation over the past 51 years with many of them holding important positions in the State apparatus.

They included 3,500 doctoral, 6,000 master and 22,000 university degree holders.

The coming visit to Viet Nam by Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to take bilateral cooperation to a new high.--VNA