The Vietnamese General and his entourage were received by Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar on the afternoon of Dec.5th at the Ministry’s HQs.
At the talks after the welcome ceremony, the Indian Minister of Defense highly appreciated Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich’s official visit to India, considering it a contribution to stiffening the friendship between the peoples and militaries of the two countries. The host said that Vietnam has an important status and role in the region, and India wishes to increase its comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam, including defense one.
Minister Ngo Xuan Lich thanked the host for the solemn but warm reception and said this visit is significant as the two countries have upgraded their relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The visit is also one of the activities to celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of their Strategic Partnership.
The Vietnamese defense minister stated that Vietnam attaches importance to comprehensive relations, especially defense ones with India, a country rich in culture and with its important role in the region and the rest of the world. Bringing the defense relations of the two countries to a new height will actively contribute to building the comprehensive strategic partnership that senior leaders of the two countries agreed in September 2016, he added.
About the relations between the two countries, the two ministers shared that Vietnam and India have a long-lasting traditional and flourishing friendship that has been established and nurtured by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, President Ho Chi Minh, and generations of leaders and people of the two countries. India is a reliable and close friend of Vietnam. On behalf of the Vietnamese government and people, Minister Ngo Xuan Lich thanked the Indian government and people for their valuable assistance and support to Vietnam during the resistance wars for national independence in the past and in the present renewal cause. Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated Vietnam on its outstanding achievements in socio-economic development and the Vietnam People’s Army on promoting its heroic tradition in combat and national construction.
According to Minister Ngo Xuan Lich, India considers Vietnam as a pillar in its “Act East” policy and Vietnam always supports this and is willing to be the bridge to connect India and the ASEAN member states to contribute more actively to maintaining stability in this region. The two ministers agreed that the consolidation and enhancement of the friendship and cooperation relations, including Vietnam – India defense relation, is an objective need of the situation and suitable with the interests and desires of the people of the two countries, contribute to peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia – Pacific region and more, of which India plays a very important role. The upgrading of relation from Strategic Partnership to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership reflects the intensive development in the relations between the two countries, in which defense cooperation has become an important pillar in the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership.
The two ministers are pleased at the results of their defense cooperation, especially the strict and active implementation of the signed cooperation agreements. The cooperation between services of the two militaries has been promoted, broadened, and deepened in terms of education, peacekeeping, strategic studies, supporting each other in multilateral forums, etc. According to the two ministers, those results are due to effective cooperation mechanisms such as the Deputy Ministerial – level Defense Policy Dialogue, Bilateral Defense Cooperation Working Groups Meeting, and Naval Officers Consultation.
The fact proves that following Minister Manohar Parrikar’s visit to Vietnam in June 2016, relevant agencies have actively cooperated and implemented many cooperation contents agreed by the two ministers. The Vietnam People’s Navy and the Indian Navy signed the Technical Agreement on Non-military Maritime Information Sharing; the Vietnam Border Guard and the Indian L&T company successfully negotiated and signed the principle contract to build and transfer high speed patrol vessels for the Vietnam Border Guard within the framework of the US$ 100 million credit package that the Indian Government provides for Vietnam; the peacekeeping centers of the two countries signed a cooperation program; ships of the Indian Coast Guard visited Vietnam and joined the search and rescue exercises with the Vietnam Coast Guard in October 2016 etc. Those results are an important foundation for the relevant agencies of the two countries to implement following cooperation contents.
In the time to come, to continue implementing effectively the signed cooperation agreements, including the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam – India Defense Cooperation for 2015-2020 period, the two defense ministers agreed to well implement the followings:
Continue to maintain and increase the frequency of visits at all levels. In the upcoming time, India continues to assist Vietnam to train officers in the fields where Vietnam needs. Vietnam is willing to receive an unlimited number of Indian trainees to study Vietnamese language or attend courses for international senior officers at the Vietnamese National Defense Academy.
On cooperation between services, the two sides continue to discuss the needs and ability to work out pragmatic cooperation contents, attaching importance to naval cooperation so as to be able to implement joint maritime search and rescue activities and the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea…
On defense industry, the Indian Prime Minister reaffirmed India’s commitment to enhancing defense industry cooperation with Vietnam and would assist Vietnam with a new line of credit to implement cooperation projects in this field, including the US$ 500 million credit package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced. The two ministers agreed on implementation methods and tasked relevant agencies of the two sides to quickly finalize necessary and procedures, suitable with Vietnam’s needs and within the framework of the signed documents.
Following the talks, the two ministers witnessed the signing of cooperation program between the Commander of Vietnam Air Force and Air Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Commander of the Indian Air Force.
Earlier, Minister Ngo Xuan Lich laid a wreath at the Martyrs Monument in New Delhi and called at the Vietnamese Embassy in India where he was briefed on the recent developments in Vietnam - India relations by Vietnamese ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh. The Minister informed the embassy’s staff of the defense foreign relations in general and the defense relations between Vietnam and India in particular. General Ngo Xuan Lich stressed that in the upcoming time, according to the agreements on defense foreign relations with India, there will be more military cadres going to study and work in India. He expected that the Embassy would facilitate these cadres to successfully fulfill their missions.
On December 5th afternoon, Vietnam and India held the Roundtable on Defense Industry Cooperation among businesses of the two countries. The roundtable is to concretize the signed agreements of the two defense ministers and increase mutual trust in cooperation in the time to come.
Reported by Tran Tuan
Translated by Ngoc Hung