Vietnam and Russia Sign Seven Cooperation Documents in Science and Technology

Vietnam and Russia exchanged and announced several cooperation documents in science and technology, including nuclear power plants, information security, and human resource training. The handover ceremony took place on September 9 within the framework of the Vietnam-Russia Science and Technology Forum, held in Russia. The documents were exchanged in the presence of Vietnamese General Secretary and President To Lam and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry N. Chernyshenko. At the event, Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology and Russia's Ministry of Science and Higher Education committed to co-funding four Vietnam-Russia joint research tasks in 2026. The activity also expands the joint research funding program to strategic technology fields. According to Vietnamese Minister of Science and Technology Vu Hai Quan, the program attracted 34 proposals, tripling from the previous year before four projects were selected. Another document saw Vietnam's National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (Nafosted) and Russia's Science Foundation announce a program to call for co-funding research, set to be implemented starting September 2026. In the atomic energy sector, both sides exchanged 10 training certificates for nuclear power plant site appraisal specialists between Russia's Federal Service for Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision and Vietnam's Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety. The Vietnam Institute of Atomic Energy also signed an agreement to participate in the International Research Center Project on the Multipurpose Fast Research Reactor (MBIR) with Russia's National Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom). MBIR is a multipurpose fast research reactor being developed by Russia, aimed at supporting research on materials, fuels, and nuclear power technologies. Several other documents pertained to information security and technology human resource training. The Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology signed two agreements: a strategic cooperation with Kaspersky Vietnam and the establishment of a joint information security laboratory with St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics. In the energy training sector, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute) signed a cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening human resource training for the energy sector. The exchange of cooperation documents was a key focus at the Vietnam-Russia Science and Technology Forum, themed "Connecting Strategic Technologies." Addressing the forum, General Secretary and President To Lam highly appreciated the concrete cooperation results announced by agencies and organizations of both countries in joint research between the two ministries, cooperation between science development funds, and nuclear capacity building and innovation. "The important thing is to turn these results into a regular and continuous flow of cooperation, rather than just stopping at individual projects," the General Secretary and President stated.