India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea.
New Delhi: On Wednesday, India and Vietnam signed a vision agreement to broaden the “scope and scale” of defence ties by 2030, as well as a mutual logistics support pact that allows the forces of the two countries to utilise each other’s facilities for supply repair and replenishment.
The signing of the two documents, which came after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s “fruitful” talks in Hanoi with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang, is seen as a major step forward in India-Vietnam strategic ties, as both countries are concerned about China’s growing muscle in the South China Sea.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support is the first such major agreement that Vietnam has signed with any country. The pact will allow the militaries of the two sides to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.
“In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence forces of the two countries, this is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” the Defence Ministry said.
It further added that India and Vietnam continue to have the “most trustworthy relations in contemporary times with broader convergence of interests and common concerns.” Mr Singh arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday on a three-day visit.
“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,” Mr Singh tweeted.
Officials said the joint vision plan calls for a considerable development of defence ties in a variety of areas by 2030.
Mr Singh added, “We had a wide-ranging conversation on effective and realistic approaches to further increase bilateral defence cooperation as well as regional and global challenges.”
“Following our successful discussions, we signed the ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defense Partnership for 2030,’ which will greatly expand the breadth and scale of our defence collaboration,” he added.
The signing of the vision document to strengthen bilateral defence and security cooperation comes as the two countries’ maritime security postures become more aligned in the face of China’s expanding muscle in the region.
Mr Singh is also scheduled to call on Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Mr Singh and Gen Giang also agreed for the early finalisation of the USD 500 million defence Line of Credit (LoC) extended to Vietnam by India.
The Defence Ministry, in a statement, said the implementation of the projects under the LoC will add substantially to Vietnam’s defence capabilities and further Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’.
Relations between the two countries were elevated to the level of ‘strategic partnership’ during the visit of Vietnam’s then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to India in July 2007.
In 2016, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Vietnam, bilateral relations were further elevated to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’.
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