India and Vietnam sign 2030 vision statement, boost ties
NEW : DELHI: : India and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a joint vision statement on “Defence Partnership towards 2030” to bolster bilateral defence cooperation, and a memorandum of understanding to simplify procedures for mutually beneficial logistics support, the defence ministry said.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang signed the vision statement in Hanoi during bilateral talks to deepen defence cooperation. Singh is on a three-day visit to the south-east Asian country.
“Wide-ranging discussions on effective and practical initiatives to further expand bilateral defence engagements, and regional and global issues were held between the two sides,” the ministry said. The MoU on mutual logistics support was inked in the presence of the two ministers. “In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence fornam’s ces of the two countries, this is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistics support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” ministry added.
The two ministers also agreed to an early finalisation of India’s $500 million defence line of credit to Vietnam, with implementation of the projects under it adding substantially to Vietdefence capabilities and furthering the government’s vision of ‘Make in India, Make for the World,’ officials said.
“Had an excellent meeting with General Phan Van Giang, the Defence Minister of Vietnam. We renewed interactions on expanding bilateral cooperation. Our close Defence and Security cooperation is an important factor of stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Singh wrote on Twitter.