On August 1, the Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister and Indian Defense Secretary co-chaired the 11th Vietnam-India Defense Policy Dialogue at the Headquarters of the Indian Defense Ministry.
At the event, the host expressed delight at receiving the Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister and his entourage. He also spoke highly of the significance of the Vietnam-India defense policy dialogue, saying that the mechanism has provided opportunity for both sides to discuss and roll out contents of the agreements adopted by leaders of the two countries, contributing to cementing the fine traditional friendship between the two nations, promoting the Vietnam-India Strategic Partnership, and expanding defense cooperation, for the interests of each country as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and world.
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The two sides at the defense policy dialogue. Photo: Vietnam+ |
General Vinh thanked the host for the warm reception given by the Indian Defense Ministry to the visiting Vietnamese delegation, affirming that the Vietnamese Government and Defense Ministry always treasures the bilateral relations with India. He reiterated that Vietnam gives first and foremost priority to its defense relations and cooperation with India and will further promote the bilateral defense ties, and believed that the trustful friendship and cooperation between the two countries will develop strongly in the future.
The host and guest shared the same view that the bilateral defense ties have continuously developed in depth and width and reached practical and effective outcomes over the past time. Both sides well implemented contents of the deals signed by leaders of the two defense ministries during their visits to each other.
Bilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as deputy-ministerial-level defense policy dialogue, joint working group meeting on bilateral defense cooperation, consultation of naval, army and air-force staff officers, and exchange of young officers, were well maintained. Meanwhile, cooperation between military corps and services of the two sides, as well as cooperation in the fields of personnel training, defense industry, UN peacekeeping operations, strategic study, defense intelligence, coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and so on also attained fine outcomes.
General Vinh highly valued and thanked the effective support and assistance of India for Vietnam, particularly providing free training courses on various subjects for hundreds of Vietnamese military personnel, and offered non-refundable aid packages and preferential credit packages to Vietnam. They include the preferential credit package of US$ 500 million for defense industry cooperation between the two sides, preferential credit package of US$ 100 million for building high-speed boats for the Vietnamese Border Force, non-refundable aid package of US$ 276,000 for the first phase of the project to build the Foreign Languages and Information Technology Center, and non-refundable aid package of US$ 5 million to build a military software park.
Regarding the directions for bilateral cooperation in the coming time, the two sides agreed to continue to implement well cooperation contents articulated in the signed agreements, particularly the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam-India Defense Cooperation in the 2015-20 period; increase exchanges of delegations at all levels; maintain and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of dialogues, consultations and exchanges; expand cooperation on human resources development; enhance cooperation between military corps and services; accelerate the release of the credit package of US$ 100 million for the building of high-speed boats for the Vietnamese Border Force and the credit package of US$ 500 million for defense industry cooperation and other projects; promote cooperation in the fields of defense industry, information technology, personnel training for UN peacekeeping operations; and maintain coordination and support at multilateral forums.
Translated by Thu Nguyen