Vietnam, India look toward stronger defence cooperation
VOV.VN - Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang, Deputy Minister of National Defence, met with Indian Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on the morning of September 13 (local time) while accompanying Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung to the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang noted with satisfaction that the traditional friendship between Vietnam and India continues to be consolidated and strengthened. Last May, the top leader of Vietnam paid a highly successful State visit to India, during which both sides consented to elevate bilateral ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This milestone opens a new chapter under the motto "sharing vision, strategic convergence, substantive cooperation," creating a solid framework to boost cooperation across multiple sectors, including defence.
Building on signed agreements and directives from senior leaders and defence ministries, bilateral defence cooperation has progressed actively and effectively. Key highlights include high-level exchanges, dialogue mechanisms, young officer interactions, training, service-to-service collaboration, UN peacekeeping operations, and the defence industry.
Indian Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh praised Vietnam's regional standing and role. He emphasized that India highly values its defence ties with Vietnam, hailed recent joint achievements, and noted ample room for further growth. Consequently, maintaining dialogue mechanisms and coordinating at multilateral forums remain core priorities for New Delhi.
The two sides concurred to maintain existing frameworks while pursuing practical steps and opening fresh opportunities for cooperation, ensuring each mechanism yields concrete results that contribute directly to national capabilities and regional peace, stability, and development.
Priority areas include boosting high-level delegations, regularizing consultations, and holding the 16th Vietnam-India Defence Policy Dialogue in India in early 2027 to deepen mutual understanding and guide bilateral military ties.
Other focuses involve promoting training, UN peacekeeping, and defence manufacturing, expediting credit and grant packages, and exploring joint efforts in cybersecurity, military medicine, and search and rescue. Both sides will also coordinate closely within the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM+) framework to co-chair the ADMM+ Experts' Working Group on Cybersecurity for the 2027-2030 cycle.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang expressed his desire to welcome the Defence Secretary, the high-level Indian military delegation, and defence enterprises to Vietnam for the 3rd Vietnam International Defence Exhibition, slated for December 10-13 in Hanoi.
In response, Rajesh Kumar Singh cordially invited Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang and the high-level Vietnamese defence delegation to attend the aerospace exhibition in India in February 2027.
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