India and Vietnam Strengthen Comprehensive Strategic Partnership During High-Level Visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese colleague Pham Minh Chinh engaged in detailed talks aimed at strengthening the all-encompassing strategic alliance between Vietnam and India, on Thursday. The goal of the Vietnamese prime minister’s visit, which got underway Tuesday night, is to strengthen the two countries’ bilateral relations.

“PM @narendramodi extended a warm welcome to PM Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam at Hyderabad House,” External Affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on ‘X’. “Substantive discussions to further energise the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on the agenda,” he added.

Vietnam and India’s strategic alliance has grown significantly in the last several years. Amid shared worries about China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, India sent Vietnam a gift of its in-service missile corvette, INS Kirpan, in July of last year. This demonstrated the growing defense and strategic collaboration between the two countries. With this, India gave a friendly foreign nation its first completely functional corvette.

Vietnam, a crucial ASEAN member, faces territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, where India also has oil exploration projects in Vietnamese waters. Both nations have been strengthening maritime security cooperation to safeguard shared interests.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a number of high-level conversations during his three-day tour. He visited Raj Ghat to offer flowers in remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi on August 1 after attending a formal reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Subsequently, the two leaders had bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Modi during which they exchanged bilateral documents. Along with meeting President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also attended a banquet organized by Prime Minister Modi. Dr. S. Jaishankar, the Minister of External Affairs, also paid him a visit.

Political Relations

The discussions between the delegations from Vietnam and India were held in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulated Prime Minister Modi on his historic third-term victory and expressed confidence in India’s continued development and growing international stature under Modi’s leadership.

Both leaders reviewed the longstanding friendship between India and Vietnam, expressing satisfaction with the robust bilateral relations since their elevation to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016. They agreed to effectively implement the outcomes of high-level talks and visits in recent years, including the India-Vietnam Joint Vision for Peace, Prosperity, and People in 2020.

Given the current geopolitical landscape, the leaders emphasized the need for closer cooperation between India and Vietnam. They recognized the convergence in their worldviews and supported a greater voice and role for the Global South in international affairs. They pledged to further strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership across various domains.

Economic, Trade, and Investment Cooperation

As rapidly growing economies, India and Vietnam agreed to reinforce cooperation between governments and businesses to increase trade, investment, and technological partnerships. They set a target to elevate trade beyond the current level of around USD 15 billion and agreed to remove trade barriers to facilitate bilateral trade. The ongoing review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement is expected to create a more user-friendly and trade-facilitative regime for both countries.

Vietnam welcomed Indian investment in diverse sectors, including infrastructure, high technology, clean technology, information technology, manufacturing, green agriculture, and renewable energy. India welcomed Vietnamese investment in agriculture, agro-processing, urban development, digital technology, and other sectors, aiming to further strengthen economic cooperation.

India appreciated Vietnam’s decision to join the Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the early completion of procedures to sign the International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement. Vietnam acknowledged India’s Global Bio-fuel Alliance initiative.

Defence and Security Cooperation

The leaders commended the effective implementation of the Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030 and the strengthening of defense cooperation, including dialogues, training, capacity building, and defense policy and industry cooperation. They agreed to enhance defense cooperation based on mutual interests and priorities, contributing to greater stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

They also agreed to enhance cooperation in human resource development, peace-keeping operations, hydrography, cybersecurity, information sharing, strategic research, maritime security, and disaster management.

Innovation and Science & Technology Cooperation

The leaders emphasized the significance of digital technologies and encouraged the development of a framework for bilateral cooperation in financial innovation and digital payments. Recognizing the national priorities of both countries for digital transformation and energy transition, they decided to promote exchanges and cooperation in digital public infrastructure, space technology applications, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

Development, Culture, Tourism Cooperation, and People-to-People Exchanges

The leaders appreciated bilateral development cooperation under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation framework through quick impact projects, ITEC training, and educational scholarships. They welcomed the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Software Development and Training in Ho Chi Minh City and the Army Software Park in Nha Trang with Indian support.

They encouraged greater student, faculty, and research exchanges between universities, think tanks, and other institutions of the two countries. They also supported collaboration on issues of interest to the Global South.

Regional and International Cooperation

The leaders reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They emphasized the legal framework set out by the UNCLOS and called for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the early conclusion of a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).