Vietnamese, Indian Defense Ministers hold talks

The talks took place in New Delhi, India, on June 19 as part of the Vietnamese Minister's four-day official visit to India.

Singh reiterated that Viet Nam is a crucial partner in India's Act East Policy, adding that the bilateral ties have been strengthened in all spheres of politics-diplomacy, economy-trade, defense-security, culture, education-training and people-to-people links. 

For his side, Minister Phan expressed thanks to the valuable assistance of the Indian Government and people for Viet Nam during its national development. 

The defense cooperation between the two countries has been strengthened via signed cooperation documents and agreements, the exchange of delegations, consultation and dialogue mechanisms, training, army services, defense industry, United Nations peacekeeping, and strategy research.

On the basis of the Joint Vision Statement on the Viet Nam-India defense partnership to 2030, they vowed to maintain and uphold current cooperation mechanisms such as the deputy ministerial-level defense policy dialogue, training and defense industry.  

The host and the guest said that the two nations share similar views on many regional and international issues.

Both ministers pledged to closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations and ASEAN mechanisms to which India is a partner such as the ASEAN-India Summit and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM).

Regarding the East Sea issue, they voiced their support for settling disputes by peaceful measures, and respecting the diplomatic and legal processes in line with the principles of international law, and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.