KIEV -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday, the first stop in a 10-day visit to former Soviet states aimed at rebuilding economic and political ties with former Communist allies. Kiet, the first Vietnamese head of government to travel to the former Soviet Union since its breakup in 1991, was scheduled to meet President Leonid Kravchuk during his two-day stay in the Ukrainian capital. After two days in Ukraine, Kiet is due to spend two days sightseeing in St. Petersburg -- a substitute for a scheduled trip to Minsk which Belarus asked him to postpone -- and to visit Kazakhstan before talks in Moscow from June 15 to 17. Russian diplomats in Hanoi said talks with Moscow would touch on political issues -- including cooperation in a new security system for Asia -- to replace close communist links shattered when the Soviet Union collapsed. Officials will review ways of settling Vietnam's huge debt to Russia, a major problem for Moscow, including reinvestment of repayments in Vietnam's emerging market economy. The Moscow talks should give fresh impetus to an old friendship after three years in which Vietnam's communist government has built closer ties with non-communist Asia and the West to underpin badly-needed investment. Russia sees Vietnam as a key country in new Asian security relationships. In Kiev, government officials said talks between the two sides would center exclusively on trade and economic issues. The Vietnamese leader was due to sign documents on economic cooperation with Ukraine's acting Prime Minister, Yefim Zvyagilsky. Among trade issues, the Vietnamese side was interested in buying spare parts for military technology bought in the Soviet era, Interfax-Ukraine quoted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko as saying. Ukraine has maintained active contacts with Vietnam since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Also, Vietnam was one of the first countries to set up diplomatic representation in Kiev after independence, and Zlenko visited Hanoi during April.
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