It said the important change is not simply that bilateral trade has recovered to reach almost USD 5 billion, it is that Moscow and Hanoi are increasingly building the infrastructure around trade. The central argument is straightforward: the next stage of Russia-Viet Nam cooperation will be determined less by how much each side can export to each other, and more by how deeply Russian and Vietnamese companies can enter each other’s production and logistics chains.
Bilateral meetings that have just taken place this August provide unusually strong evidence of this shift. Specifically, two-way trade neared USD 4.77 billion in 2025, an increase of 4% from 2024. This trade is well balanced as Viet Nam’s exports to Russia were worth around USD 2.26 billion, while imports from Russia reached about USD 2.51 billion.
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The article on the "Russia’s Pivot to Asia” website |
In January-May, bilateral trade was around USD 2.16 billion, up 6.6%. The overall direction is clear: trade continues to expand, while Viet Nam is Russia’s largest trading partner in ASEAN.
The commodity structure is highly complementary. Viet Nam supplies Russia with coffee, textiles, seafood, cashews, pepper, rubber, footwear, mobile phones and processed food. Russia supplies Viet Nam with oil and gas, coal, fertilizers, metals, machinery, chemicals and other industrial inputs.
The 2025 export figures demonstrated considerable potential. Vietnamese textile exports to Russia reached USD 504 million, or 22.3% of total Vietnamese exports to Russia, while coffee achieved USD 462.3 million, about 20%. Iron and steel exports surged 582.8%, coffee increased 51%, and footwear 43.4%, Yet the two Governments are aiming for USD 10 billion in two-way trade on the back of the Viet Nam-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement.
At the Viet Nam-Russia Business Networking Conference in Ho Chi Minh City on August 5, the Ho Chi Minh City Supporting Industries Association already connected nearly 300 buyers and suppliers from the two countries. The meeting was not principally about selling Russian goods into Viet Nam. It was increasingly about Russian companies finding Vietnamese manufacturing, distribution and technology partners.
In early 2026, Russia had about 220 projects worth USD 996 million in Viet Nam, while Viet Nam had around 18 projects valued at some USD 1.64 billion in Russia.
Goods transported between Russia and Viet Nam reached some 688,300 tons in 2025, up 38% from 2024. On March 27, Russia’s Delo Group and Viet Nam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) signed an MoU to develop maritime transport and logistics cooperation. Viet Nam and Russia cooperate through the Organization for Cooperation between Railways, maintain a permanent Viet Nam Railways-Russian Railways mechanism and are developing a Viet Nam-China-Russia inter-ministerial working group.
Eight airlines currently operate Viet Nam-Russia routes, including two Vietnamese and six Russian carriers. During the first half of 2026, air traffic between the countries reached about 1.07 million passengers, up 32% year on year.
Viet Nam welcomed over 863,000 Russian tourists during January-July, up 174% from the same period last year and more than double the 2019 figure. Russia has become Viet Nam’s third-largest tourism source market overall and its largest European market, beating out even the traditional French market.
The industrial agenda is supported by energy cooperation. Russian companies, including Novatek and Zarubezhneft, continue to be associated with cooperation in LNG, oil and gas, while Moscow and Hanoi have agreed to cooperate in the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power project, intended to become a new symbol of bilateral strategic cooperation.
In closing, the article said the significance of 2026 is therefore structural. The relationship is moving from “Russia sells, Viet Nam buys” toward “Russia and Viet Nam build together.” The forthcoming 26th session of the Viet Nam-Russia Intergovernmental Committee on Economic, Trade and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, expected to be held in Viet Nam later this year will show whether this transition is becoming measurable in investment projects and contracts.
Source: VNA