Vietnam and India will focus their defence cooperation on applying technological advances and developing information technology and defence industry, it was agreed at the ninth Vietnam-India defence dialogue in New Delhi on January 16.

At the dialogue, Deputy Defence Minister, Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh and his Indian counterpart Shri R.K. Mathur also agreed that both sides will continue sharing defence strategies and polices via visits and training courses for armies, especially naval forces.

They are due to extend the second stage of a project on developing an Indian-funded centre of IT, foreign languages and informatics into a major software hub in central Vietnam.

The two sides consented to work closely together at multilateral forums in the region, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting Plus while effectively carrying out an initiative on humanitarian mine action.

The Indian side promised to partner with Vietnam in its preparations to join UN peacekeeping mission.

Deputy Minister Shri Mathur reiterated that India always wants to foster cooperation with Vietnam, which is considered a pillar in its Look East policy.

Deputy Minister Vinh, for his part, vowed to do his best to develop bilateral defence ties in a way that matches potentials of both nations.

Turning to regional and global issues of common concern, they shared the view that all disputes and differences should be settled via peaceful dialogues and in line with international law without the use or threat of force.

Reviewing the progress of bilateral defence partnership, they took note of the progress in implementing a 100 million USD credit that India provides to Vietnam to build ships for Vietnamese law enforcement forces at sea.

Deputy Minister Vinh informed his host that the centre of IT, foreign languages and informatics under the Vietnamese Defence Ministry’s Telecommunications University will be put into operation in the second quarter of this year, which is the result of the first-stage assistance that India gives to the Vietnamese defence ministry.

The Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister was received by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval the same day.

Vietnam-India defence ties strongly developing: Deputy Minister

Defence relations between Vietnam and India have been growing vigorously over the past years with more and more areas included, said Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh.

During his interview granted to Vietnam News Agency reporters on the sidelines of the ninth bilateral defence strategic dialogue in New Delhi, the deputy defence minister said the expanding defence cooperation between the two countries can be attributed to the defence dialogue mechanism at the deputy ministerial level which was set up in 2007.

The mechanism provides a venue for the two countries to discuss security issues of common concern and define specific measures and projects for more extensive and result-oriented cooperation.

He noted that the establishment of a strategic partnership in 2007 has resulted in strong developments in bilateral ties in all fields from politics, economy, and culture-society to defence, security, and religion.

In the realm of defence cooperation, the strategic partnership also allows Vietnam and India to build deep and firm mutual trust as well as expand their joint activities, ranging from personnel training, delegation exchange to defence technology.

At this year’s dialogue, the two sides started out on working together in high-technology such as information technology and mechanical engineering to serve the defence industry, he added.

The Deputy Minister said he strongly believes in the sustainable development of Vietnam-India relations, including defence ties, since they share a number of strategic interests as well as opportunities and challenges during the national construction and protection.

VNA