Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh will hold bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang on the 19th of June. During the talks, both sides will exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
Mr. Giang will be on a two days official visit to India. The Minister of National Defence of Vietnam will also visit Agra during his stay in India.
Previous Meetings
During last year’s visit to Vietnam by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in June 2022, major overarching guiding documents were signed, namely ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ and a Memorandum of Understanding on ‘Mutual Logistics Support’. These have significantly enhanced the scope and scale of defence cooperation between both the countries. The upcoming meeting will give a further boost to the defence cooperation between India and Vietnam.
This comes a month after PM Narendra Modi and Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh held talks in Hiroshima on the sidelines of G7 meet. They discussed multiple aspects of India-Vietnam friendship, particularly in areas like energy, technology, commerce, and defence.
Recently, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary Saurabh Kumar also had a discussion with Vice Chairman of National Boundary Commission of Vietnam Trinh Duc Hai to strengthen India-Vietnam bilateral relations in the realm of defence, security and maritime cooperation.
India-Vietnam Relations
India and Vietnam share a comprehensive strategic partnership and bilateral defence relations are a strong pillar of this partnership. Defence engagements between the two nations have diversified to include wide-ranging contacts between the services, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity building, training programs, cooperation in UN Peacekeeping, and bilateral exercises.
Both countries share traditionally close and cordial bilateral relations given their historical roots in the common struggle for liberation from colonial rule and the national struggle for independence.
