India wishes to promote comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam
VOV.VN - India wishes to strengthen comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam, including in the field of national defense, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told his visiting Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Giang, during their talks in New Delhi, on June 19.
Singh affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner in India’s Act East policy, and that bilateral cooperation has comprehensively been strengthened in all fields, from politics-diplomacy and defense-security, to economy-trade, culture, education-training and people-to-people exchanges.
General Giang for his part thanked India for providing valuable assistance to Vietnam during its past struggle for national liberation and the current cause of national development, asserting that India is a reliable and close friend of Vietnam.
The two ministers shared the view that the Vietnam-India defense cooperation has been promoted in accordance with the signed cooperation agreements and documents, yielding practical results. Both sides have maintained delegation exchanges, effectively implemented consultation and dialogue mechanisms, and boosted training, military and defense industry cooperation, along with cooperation in the fields of United Nations peacekeeping and strategy research.
They vowed to maintain high-level visit exchanges to enhance mutual trust, understanding and cooperation, bring into full play existing cooperation mechanisms such as defense policy dialogue and consultation, and foster cooperation in potential fields such as cyber security, military medicine, search and rescue in accordance with needs and ability of each party.
They were of the view that both India and Vietnam have basically similar stances about many regional and international issues. The two countries closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations. and ASEAN mechanisms to which India is a partner, such as the ASEAN-India Summit, the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) of which India is an active member.
Exchanging views on the East Sea issue, the two sides voiced their strong support for the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in accordance with the principles of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
