RUSSIA-VIETNAM MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION STEPPED UP








HANOI, MARCH 1, 2001. /FROM A RIA NOVOSTI SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT/ -- Vladimir Putin has given the government additional instructions to work on intensification of military-technical cooperation between Russia and Vietnam, said Deputy Chief of the presidential administration Sergei Prikhodko.


	According to Prikhodko, Vietnam showed enthusiasm in this connection. The Kremlin spokesman noted that issues of bilateral military-technical cooperation had stood high on the agenda of the Russia-Vietnam talks.


	In Prikhodko's words, the volume of this cooperation is not high yet--in 2000 it reached several dozen million dollars.


	The Kremlin spokesman reminded that the bulk of Vietnamese military hardware was Soviet-made and needed upgrading.


	In his opinion, the real prospect for collaboration consisted in training Vietnamese military and civil staff in Russia. This matter was also prominent on the agenda of the talks, noted Sergei Prikhodko. The Kremlin spokesman stressed that Vietnam was deeply interested in this sphere and that the president had instructed the government to ponder ways of settling the problem.