MOSCOW, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at a presidential compound near Moscow on Tuesday, vowing to further bilateral ties.

    Putin thanked the Vietnamese government for their interest in Russia and pledged to further bilateral ties, Russian news agencies reported.

    "We can see that cooperation with Russia is in the focus of attention of the Vietnamese authorities. I can assure you that Russia feels alike ... We will give much attention to the development of relations with Vietnam." he said.

    The president said bilateral trade has surged this year and made up a minor drop in 2006.

    "We are successfully cooperating in the energy sphere, and we have good joint projects. Contacts are on the rise in the metallurgical industry, infrastructure, communications, and military-technical sphere," Putin was quoted as saying.

    During the prime minister's first visit to Russia, the two states have inked series of agreements.

    The Russian TVEL corporation on Tuesday delivered a batch of low-enriched nuclear fuel to a Vietnamese research reactor at the Nuclear Research Center in Dalat, Vietnam, says the company's report.

    Russia and Vietnam also agreed to continue the work of the joint venture Vietsovpetro, which was forged in the Soviet era, after 2010 on a different legal basis. The company was established for cooperation in geological exploration and production of oil and gas on the continental shelf in southern Vietnam.

    Energy companies Zarubezhneft and Petrovietnam also signed an agreement to set up a joint venture, while Russia's gas giant Gazprom is holding talks with Petrovietnam on cooperation in geological exploration, production and the transport of gas, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said after talks with his Vietnamese counterpart.