India-Vietnam Defence Ministers hold discussions

The Defence Ministers of India and Vietnam recently discussed the collaboration in the defence industry. The discussions include training, capacity building and cooperation in United Nations Peace keeping operations. The countries reaffirmed the strong India-Vietnam Defence cooperation during the discussion.

Key discussions

• During the discussions, the countries reaffirmed their vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to enhance self-reliance. India expressed its willingness to enhance the level of training of all the three services of Vietnam Defence Forces.
• Vietnam invited India to the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM) that is to be hosted by Vietnam in December 2020. The ADMM-Plus is a platform of ASEAN that aims to strengthen stability, defence cooperation, peace and stability.
• The countries also discussed about their cooperation in the field of hydrography. The countries under the cooperation will share hydrographic data. Hydrography measures the physical features of the Earth surface and adjoining coastal areas.

India-Vietnam Relations

• India and Vietnam are improving their bilateral cooperation in line with ASEAN Outlook and Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative. This comes in backdrop of the stress between India and China along Line of Actual Control and China’s aggression in the South China Sea region.
• India Vietnam are to serve at the United Nations Security Council as non-permanent members till 2021.
  The bilateral trade between India and Vietnam was 9.01 billion USD for the period April to November 2019.
• Under ASEAN cooperation, both India and Vietnam celebrated ASEAN-India Year of Tourism facilitating a simplified visa regime to promote bilateral tourism. In the ASEAN region, Vietnam is the second largest export destination of India after Singapore.
• India has extended financial assistances to Vietnam under Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation, Quick Impact Projects, PhD fellowships, water resource management in Vietnam Mekong Delta region, digital connectivity, Sustainable Development Goals and heritage conservation.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020