Vietnam's State President To Lam hosted a welcome ceremony for Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi around noon on Thursday.

This is the first time that the Vietnamese head of state and his Russian counterpart have met since the former was elected state president in May.

A convoy of cars carrying President Putin and his entourage arrived at the Presidential Palace at 12:13 pm.

Vietnamese children waved the flags of Vietnam and Russia to welcome the Russian leader.

After State President Lam greeted his Russian counterpart, they stepped up to a podium of honor to attend the welcome ceremony.

President Putin was set to take part in multiple diplomatic activities on Thursday.

The leaders of both nations will meet reporters after their talks.

As part of his Vietnam visit, the Russian president will lay wreaths and pay tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at the mausoleum and heroes at the Monument to War Heroes and Martyrs in the Vietnamese capital.

Also, Putin will meet Vietnam’s top officials on Thursday afternoon.

The Russian president and his entourage arrived in Hanoi at 2:00 am on Thursday, starting his state visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The visit takes place when Vietnam and Russia mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Principles of Friendly Relations between the two nations (June 16). 

This is the Russian president’s second state visit to Vietnam, but it is the fifth time he has traveled to Vietnam.

Russian President Putin’s entourage includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Russian sub-committee of the Vietnam-Russia intergovernmental committee on economic-trade and science-technology cooperation Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, and Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Gennady Bezdetko.

The Russian leader is also accompanied by Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, and representatives from Russian authorities, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and numerous firms.

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