He received New Year cards from the president of the People's Republic of China who is general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and his wife, the president of the Russian Federation, the president of the Lao People's Democratic Republic who is general secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and his wife, the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the president of Mongolia, the president of the Republic of Singapore and her husband, the president of Turkmenistan, the president of the Republic of Armenia, the president of the Azerbaijan Republic, the president of the Republic of Belarus and the prime minister of the Republic of India.

He also received New Year cards from the general chairman and the secretary general of the National Guidance Council of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the chairperson of the Socialist Political Party "For Just Russia-Patriots-Truth", the general secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party, the standing secretary of the Secretariat of the C.C., Communist Party of Vietnam who is member of its Political Bureau, the national secretary of the Socialist Workers' Party of the United States of America, the director-general of the UN Office at Vienna and the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.