Rectors Vladimir Litvinenko of the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University and Hanoi University of Mining and Geology Hai Tran Thanh signed an agreement on international co-operation. In particular, the parties agreed to join efforts in such areas as training competent personnel for the mineral resources sector of the two countries, increasing academic mobility, increasing publication activity and a number of others.
The prospects of the new collaboration look extremely promising, as it is about the interaction of two very similar higher education institutions. Their areas of training and research are largely similar, and therefore it should not take too long to establish joint research groups or to reach substantive agreements on short-term internships for students, postgraduates and professors.
"The agreement signed today is a launching pad on which concrete actions aimed at increasing our competitiveness will soon be based. Mutual interest in integration, common historical memory, similarity in the system of values, in particular, the obvious desire to preserve sovereignty, clearly indicate great prospects for our partnership," Vladimir Litvinenko stressed, commenting on the agreements reached.
He specified that the Russian delegation will pay a return visit to Hanoi in the next month and a half. The main goal of the Petersburgers will be a closer acquaintance with the scientific interests and study plans of their Vietnamese colleagues. This is necessary to form a mutually beneficial working programme of cooperation, the first point of which, by the way, is already known. The parties said that each of them will open its own representative office in the partner university. The task of these offices will be to accompany and support compatriots during their internships abroad, as well as to coordinate academic co-operation and scientific research.
"The traditions of our friendship were established back in the days of the USSR. You can approach any person on the street in Hanoi or any other of our cities and ask them what they think of Russia. The answer will be about the same. We all remember very well the enormous assistance your country provided to Vietnam during our liberation struggle and after our victory over the Americans," Hai Tran Thanh said.
He also recalled that the university he heads was established in 1966 and has learnt a lot from the Soviet education system. Moreover, more than a hundred of its current teachers are graduates of Russian higher education institutions, and this should undoubtedly be another good reason for realising the potential of cooperation between the two universities.
"We have a strong and reliable partner in you. We need the degree of success that you have, the confidence with which you are moving forward. I have no doubt that, thanks to our cooperation, all parties concerned will benefit, and the agreement signed today will be the beginning of a long and promising partnership," Hai Tran Thanh expressed his confidence.
Last year, a concert dedicated to the centenary of Ho Chi Minh's arrival in Petrograd was held at the St Petersburg Mining University. The concert was attended by representatives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and members of the local diaspora. In particular, the Russian-Vietnamese Friendship Society and the Association of Vietnamese in Russia.