Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Hanoi last night, held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc on a host of issues concerning the two countries and the region and agreed to scale up and strengthen bilateral engagement.
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“I am also happy to announce a new Defence Line of Credit for Vietnam of $500 million for facilitating deeper Defence cooperation”, Modi said after the signing of the agreements.
The India-Vietnam relationship was upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which Hanoi only has with Moscow and Beijing. Vietnam now has Comprehensive Strategic Partnership only with Russian Federation and China.
He urged Beijing to uphold its legal obligations in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, and stressed USA commitments to its regional allies.Xi said China would continue to safeguard its sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea.
India also extended another credit line of $100 million to Vietnam for buying a number of naval vessels. The defence cooperation will jump to a whole new level when India finally makes a decision to transfer the Brahmos missile to Vietnam, which has been on Hanoi’s wishlist for some time.
Experts say Vietnam is in the market for fighter jets and more advanced missile systems, in addition to its six kilo-class submarines it has bought from Russian Federation, the last of which it will receive late this year.
Modi is paying an official visit to Vietnam from Friday to Saturday. Mr Quang sought further support from India in investment, education, training and Science and technology and asked for more Indian participation in oil and gas sectors of Vietnam.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to United Kingdom from 12-14 November, 2015 took the relationship between the largest and the oldest democracies to new heights.
Vietnam is India’s country coordinator for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
After the Hague judgment, China called the countries involved in the dispute vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia “eunuch” and “paper tiger” and termed The Hague’s tribunal “illegal and ridiculous”.
They hoped that all relevant parties would resolve their disputes using amicable measures as per global law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
India believes that states should resolve disputes through peaceful means without threat or use of force and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cyber security.
Ngan said that she would be visiting India in December.
In his candid comments reflecting India s concerns, Modi said both India and China need to be “sensitive” to each other’s strategic interests and called for specific actions to “prevent growth of negative perception”.
Vietnam had earlier Comprehensive Strategic Partnership only with Russian Federation and China.
“China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance their cooperation”, President Xi said while meeting Modi.
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Earlier on the day, he was accorded a ceremonial welcome in front of the majestic Presidential palace here.
