Vietnamese Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.
At their talks in New Delhi on July 4, as part of Minh’s visit from July 3-5, the two sides shared their delight at the growing ties between the two countries, since Vietnam and India set up diplomatic ties in 1972, with sound political relations and regular exchanges of delegations through all channels.
The establishment of the strategic partnership in 2007 and the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016, demonstrate that a strong political trust has formed between the two countries, creating an important framework for them to bolster collaboration across politics-diplomacy, defence-security, economy-trade, science-technology, culture and education, they added.
During the talks, the two sides also agreed on various measures to further foster bilateral cooperation in different fields.
In the economic sector, Minh and Sushma Swaraj stressed the need to take stronger and more effective measures to turn Vietnam and India into important trade partners.
They concurred that the Vietnam-India subcommittee for trade cooperation should convene a meeting, as soon as possible, to seek ways to increase their two-way trade to US$15 billion in 2020, including providing information and support for businesses, creating favourable conditions for the entry of their respective goods, as well as strengthening connections in all fields.
They also agreed to beef up their affiliation within the framework of the ASEAN-India free trade agreement, and foster collaboration with regional countries in accelerating and finalizing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Minh noted that Indian investment in Vietnam has reached US$722 million, ranking 26th among 119 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, expressing his hope that India will become one of the leading investors in Vietnam in the near future.
Vietnam wishes for an increased engagement of its businesses in India’s initiatives, including the “Make in India”, “Digital India”, and “Skill India”, he stated.
Both sides agreed to bolster cooperation in promising areas, such as software development, IT, banking-finance, logistics, mechanic manufacturing, garment and textile, energy and renewable energy, and pharmaceuticals.
They affirmed their interests in expanding cooperations in training and scientific research, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
The Indian side pledged to continue providing scholarships for Vietnam and help Vietnam implement projects to restore and preserve the Cham towers in My Son.
They also highlighted the need to maintain their partnership in defence-security with India continuing its training and technical support programmes, as well as providing soft loan provisions and cooperation in coping with non-traditional security challenges.
Minh and Sushma Swaraj shared their views on international and regional issues of shared concern. They vowed to work closely at international and regional forums to which both countries are members.
As the coordinating country for the ASEAN-India relations in 2015-2018, Vietnam supports India in strengthening their comprehensive cooperation and closer connectivity with the bloc and make positive contributions as a powerful country in Asia, stated Minh.
Meanwhile, Sushma Swaraj reaffirmed India’s commitment to strongly upholding the “Act East Policy”, which places ASEAN in general, and Vietnam in particular, as a major focus.
They reiterated the cooperation in maintaining peace and stability, as well as aviation and maritime safety and security in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.
They emphasised the principle of respecting international law and settling disputes through peaceful measures, in conformity with international law, the United Nations Charter and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Following the talks, Minh and Sushma Swaraj signed an Action Programme for the implementation of the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017-2020.
The programme will direct the two countries’ across-the-board cooperation.
On the day, Minh paid a courtesy visit to Vice President and Chairman of the Senate Hamid Ansari and received Minister of Defence cum Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley.
Ansari spoke highly of the warm friendship and the comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Vietnam and expressed his belief that Minh’s visit will help to deploy the partnership practically.
He affirmed that the parliament and people of India have always supported the bilateral ties and wished that the two countries’ ministries and sectors will continue to have more discussions and work together in stepping up cooperative fields, in a comprehensive and intensive fashion that fully tap the respective countries’ potential and advantages.
For his part, Minh asserted that Vietnam has always treasured their time-honoured friendship with India, as well as the country’s support for Vietnam’s past struggle for national independence and their current nation-building efforts.
He hoped that the two countries will continue working to deepen their relations and that the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will work with the Indian ministries and sectors to boost cooperation across politics, economics-trade, defence-security, culture-education, science-technology, and other promising fields.
Later that day, Minh received Vietnam’s honorary consul in Nepal Rajesh Kazi Shrestha along with several Nepalese business people.
The honorary consul expressed his honor at undertaking the task of promoting people-to-people exchanges, connecting businesses and protecting Vietnamese citizens in Nepal, while Vietnam has yet to officially open a representative office in the country.
Minh said he is glad to see positive developments in the relations between Vietnam and Nepal, highly valuing the efforts and contributions of the honorary consul to promoting the ties.
