Russia wants to take part in Vietnam’s planned nuclear energy program, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said Thursday following talks with Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi.

“We know that such plans were made in Vietnam, very daring and far-reaching plans. We hope that Russia will be among those who will work with Vietnam in this hi-tech area and continue the traditions of our cooperation,” Denisov said in an interview to the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Last week, Russia and Vietnam signed oil and gas deals after trade talks in Moscow between the countries’ presidents, as part of a broader effort by Russia to regain Soviet-era influence in the region.

While trade between Russia and Vietnam has grown in recent years, Russia’s clout in the Southeast Asian country is still a shadow of Soviet-era levels.

Russian trade turnover with Vietnam was set to reach US$1.5 billion in 2007, Medvedev said, a figure dwarfed by the annual trade turnover between Vietnam and the United States of over $10 billion.

Source: AFP