Russian President Vladimir Putin was given a rousing welcome on Monday as he arrived at Hanoi’s Presidential Palace for a state visit. The visit is meant to fortify economic and political ties between the two Cold War allies.

In his first visit to Vietnam in five years, Putin was holding meetings with President Nguyen Minh Triet and other top officials following the end of a weekend summit of Pacific Rim leaders.

Following customary protocol, Putin laid wreaths at Vietnam’s memorial to fallen heroes and at the mausoleum of national hero Ho Chi Minh before proceeding to the palace for official meetings.

His motorcade was greeted by cheering crowds of Vietnamese, clad in colourful traditional “ao dai” tunics and waving Vietnamese and Russian flags.

The Soviet Union pumped billions of dollars into the Vietnamese economy in the 1960s and ’70s, building factories and power plants.

But those ties unraveled in the economic fallout after the collapse of the Soviet empire. Russia closed its military base in the country in 2000.

Russia’s economy is now growing at about seven per cent on average per year, and its state banks are ready to fund projects overseas.

On Sunday, Putin presided over the launch of a Russian-Vietnamese joint venture bank, the Vietnam-Russia Bank, the only joint venture bank to be licensed in this country in the past decade.

Vietnam hopes to double bilateral trade with Russia to $2 billion by 2010 from $1 billion.

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