opening ceremony of the laboratory for the study and prevention of infectious diseases at the joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical, Research and Technology Center begins. Speech by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Dear comrade Tulam, dear friends, I am glad to welcome you all. I would like to inform you that Comrade Tulam and I have already begun work and negotiations, and held a very productive discussion in a narrow format, touching on key bilateral and international issues. Now we move on to the official opening ceremony of a new laboratory for the study and prevention of infectious diseases, created at the joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technology Center in Hanoi. I consider it highly symbolic that this important event is timed to coincide with the state visit of the President of Vietnam. The launch of such a high-tech joint project is yet another clear example of the mutually beneficial and multifaceted cooperation between Russia and Vietnam and clear evidence of the successful development of the strategic partnership between our two countries. The Hanoi laboratory is the most modern and large-scale institution in the field of sanitary-epidemic and biological safety in Vietnam. It will operate using Russian technologies and methods, focusing on issues related to protecting the lives and health of the population of Vietnam and the entire Southeast Asian region. The laboratory complex was equipped with innovative diagnostic equipment, allowing for in-depth molecular genetic and visiological studies. This technology can be used to solve a wide range of problems related to monitoring, preventing, and countering dangerous infections and strains. Develop and test effective drugs and vaccines. When training Vietnamese laboratory personnel, the sanitary requirements in force in Russia, which are among the highest and best in the world, were used as a model. Thanks to advanced engineering and technical systems for sensing, filtration, and disinfection, employees' working conditions comply with all norms and standards of bacteriological protection. I am confident that the Hanoi laboratory will become a significant component of the tropical center, will fit seamlessly into its work, and will strengthen its scientific potential. I would also like to remind you that last year Russia donated the research vessel Professor Gagarinsky to its Vietnamese friends free of charge. This is a fully-fledged floating scientific station. It is used by the center's staff to study marine biodiversity, as well as for hydrographic and geophysical research. It is important that the tropical center has been operating productively for almost four decades, since 1988. Within its walls, Russian and Vietnamese doctors and scientists collaborate on applied and fundamental research not only in healthcare, but also in environmental protection, combating the effects of climate change, and protecting tropical ecosystems. Much of the work carried out by the Tropical Research Centre has received well-deserved recognition worldwide, and its research team enjoys a high reputation in international academic and medical circles. Thanks to my unique knowledge, extensive experience, and responsible approach, I would like to wish the participants of our ceremony and, of course, the management and staff of the Russian Vietnam Atropic Center, as well as the staff of the new laboratory in Hanoi, success, outstanding scientific achievements, and all the best. Thank you. Speech by General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Tolam. Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation, dear Russian comrades, today I am very pleased to have joined the President of Russia in witnessing the opening ceremony of a laboratory designed to study epidemic surveillance, prevention, and control of infectious diseases. This is an important and practically significant facility that is being commissioned in the context of a difficult epidemiological situation in the world. To protect the health of the population, it is necessary to identify potential threats in advance and take preventive measures. I highly appreciate the efforts of the institutions and specialists who participated in the creation of this laboratory. Thanks also for the technical assistance from Russian colleagues, Russian specialists and Rospotrebnadzor. This is a striking example of the effectiveness of scientific and technological cooperation in the field of preventive medicine and public health protection. I ask that you fully utilize the laboratory's capabilities, consistently transforming it into a modern center for research and epidemiological surveillance. for causative infectious diseases. I hope that, thanks to the created material and technical base and team of specialists, the laboratory will become a reliable research platform in the field of epidemiological surveillance. This is a very vivid example of our friendship. I wish everyone present good health, happiness and success. Thank you for your attention. The floor is given to Deputy Minister of National Defense of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Xiong Thang. Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, President of the Russian Federation, dear Tagashlyam, Secretary General of the company and President of Vietnam. Dear Anna Yuryevna, Head of Rospotrebnadzor, and my Russian and Vietnamese colleagues, I am delighted to be joining the head of Rospotrebnadzor in chairing the laboratory's opening ceremony today. We are now in the Hanoi tropical center. The friendly relations between our countries have been linked for many years and have been tested over time. In general, the tropical center represents a special model of cooperation. This is a special mechanism of cooperation between departments, organizations and scientific communities of the two countries. In the past, based on the agreement signed between Vietnam and the USSR on the establishment of a tropical center, which was signed in 1987, the opening of the laboratory today is a good result of cooperation over all these years. This shows the purpose of the desire of the leaders of the two countries to develop cooperation. This is connected with science, and also with the health of the population. On behalf of the Tropcenter, I thank Putin and my Russian colleagues for your assistance. The epidemiological situation in the world has become more complicated in recent times, and we have a tropical climate, so we must improve our ability to conduct scientific research and forecast. In this regard, the laboratory will supplement the capacity of our center, which also requires specialized equipment. And so the laboratory will also help us collect data, thereby strengthening our ability to study diseases. Thanks to the interest of the two countries' leadership, along with Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian scientific community is confident that the tropical center will make good use of this laboratory and make a significant contribution to the prevention of infectious diseases. I wish the leaders and everyone present good health and happiness. I wish that all partnerships between our countries will continue to develop and strengthen. The floor is given to the head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, Anna Yuryevna Popova. Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, dear comrade Talam, dear comrade Thang. The opening of the laboratory marks a new stage in the cooperation between our countries in the fight against infections. And its creation became possible thanks to your support, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, and the commitment of the Vietnamese leadership, comrade Talam. We have been working successfully with our Vietnamese colleagues for a long time, and over the past 10 years, we have become particularly effective in combating infectious diseases. Nine research organizations of Rospotrebnadzor and organizations of the Russian Academy of Sciences are participating in our work. During this time, more than 600 Vietnamese specialists have been trained to work in a wide variety of conditions. Some of them underwent several months of training in the Russian Federation. And during this time, more than 100 new diagnostic tools have been developed. For this purpose, four mobile laboratories are used in expeditionary work and in work in general throughout Vietnam . And this is also, ah, the result of our interaction. These are laboratories transferred to the Russian Federation. Today's ceremony is dedicated to the opening of the laboratory. The laboratory is unique. It will, indeed, become a regional center. I would also like to point out that all the work on the construction of this laboratory was carried out by our comrades from Vietnam, and completed in the shortest possible time. All equipment, all supplies, all engineering support, so complex for this laboratory, was manufactured in the Russian Federation and completed here on site by specialists from the Russian Federation. I would like to point out that the new laboratory is a scientific and educational base for a new generation of scientists. And a large number of specialists defend their dissertations. About thirty scientific papers and joint scientific papers are published annually. The average age of researchers working in the research center in the epidemiological sciences is no more than 35 years. And we are, of course, confident that today's, uh, ceremony, today's opening of the laboratory, is a demonstration of technology transfer, advanced Russian technologies in the field of epidemiology. And, uh, this is the basis for the development and ensuring the biological sovereignty of a sovereign Vietnam. This will allow us to create our own capacity to fight infections. And, highly respected Vladimir Vladimirovich, dear comrade Tulam, the laboratory for the study and prevention of infectious diseases of the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Center is fully prepared to conduct research. Allow me to begin work. We allow it.