Earlier, after taking part in activities to mark the 65^th anniversary of the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany, Mr Triet attended a ground-breaking ceremony of the Hanoi-Moscow Culture and Trade Centre in Moscow.

On addressing the ceremony, the Chairman of the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee, Nguyen The Thao and the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov highlighted the great potential for bilateral cooperation in every field and expressed their hopes that the Hanoi-Moscow Culture and Trade Centre and the “Russian House” Project in Hanoi will contribute to promoting bilateral relations.

Mr Luzhkov said, “We should work together in the construction process to create the best possible conditions for people to enjoy a better life. The building of this centre will strengthen bilateral cooperation in culture, trade, investment and new technologies,”

President Triet thanked the Moscow authorities for facilitating the construction of the centre in Russia’s political, economic and cultural hub and praised the efforts made by Vietnamese entrepreneurs to promote Vietnam as friendly and dynamic through culture, trade and investment activities.

The US$190 million culture and trade centre is being built in Moscow on a site of 4.9 hectares under an agreement signed in 2008 by the Hanoi and Moscow administrations.

The centre will include a 22 storey apartment and hotel block and a seven-storey building, to house a trade and exhibition complex, a sport and entertainment area and a multi-functional hall. The project is expected to be completed in May, 2013.

During the ceremony, a credit and financial services contract for the project was signed between the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture Bank (VRB) and the Hanoi-Moscow Trade Centre Investment Joint Stock Company (INCENTRA), the main investor in the project.