Hanoi -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a two- day visit to Vietnam Saturday with the signing of an agreement to cooperate in developing nuclear energy in the Southeast Asian state.

Lavrov met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi. At the end of the meeting, representatives of Vietnam's Ministry of Trade and Industry and of state-owned Russian nuclear energy firm Rosatom signed an agreement to pursue unspecified projects in Vietnam in the future.

Vietnam intends to complete two nuclear power plants by 2020. American, Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian, and South Korean companies are competing to win contracts for the plants.

"Vietnam and Russia have very similar points of view on many regional and international issues," Lavrov said. "This is particularly significant in the context of Vietnam's current non- permanent seat on the UN Security Council."

Vietnam is serving a two-year term on the council that will end this year. The council sometimes considers issues that force Vietnam to choose between its close relationships with countries such as Russia and China and its relationships with European countries and the US.

Lavrov also noted rising trade between Vietnam and Russia, which grew 15 per cent to 1.6 billion dollars in 2008.

The Russian minister also met with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. He is scheduled to meet with Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh on Sunday.

Vietnam and Russia enjoy historically close ties stemming from the former Soviet Union's support for Ho Chi Minh's Vietnamese Communist Party, and for the Northern side during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s.

The relationship ebbed in the 1990s after the collapse of the USSR, as trade between the two countries became insignificant. In recent years Vietnam has grown increasingly close to the US, Japan, and European countries, which are by far its largest export markets. (dpa)