How India-Vietnam Will Now "Act East"
Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang who recently came to India on a two-day state visit was successful in strengthening defence ties during his visit. He met PM Narendra Modi and EAM (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj and the two sides vowed to increase co-operation in the defence sector.
"We have discussed all aspects of our bilateral ties today, and we will increase our partnership and co-operation in the defence and technology sector," PM Modi said in a joint statement with Quang.
The two sides have signed three MoU's of co-operation. MoU's on Economic and Trade Co-operation, Work Plan for the years 2018-2022 between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and MoU on Cooperation between the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, India (GCNEP) and the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (VINATOM).
Quang's visit comes at a time when the momentum for bilateral ties between the two countries is very high. Vietnam is a very important country for India's act east policy. His trip comes just a few weeks of the Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan's visit to India as a chief guest for Republic Day celebrations.
India-Vietnam and the South China Sea
India and Vietnam share common security concerns about the growing Chinese influence in the South China Sea. Responding strategically to China's influence, Vietnam has asked India to play a more proactive role in Southeast Asia.
Modi-Tran talks this time have led to an agreement on underlining the importance of South China Sea.
"Maintenance of freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea, full respect for diplomatic relations and legal processes, peaceful settlements of disputes without resorting to the threat or use of force in accordance with the international law," a statement from MEA said.
India is clearly willing to 'Act East' by maintaining a compressive defence partnership with Vietnam. The frequent bi lateral visits from the two sides, growing number of security dialogues and increasing military to military co-operation are big signs of growing partnership in security matters.
Besides this India trains Vietnamese military in operation of its Russian built submarines and SU-30 fighter jets. India has also assigned a 500-million-dollar line of credit to Vietnam for defence co-operation.
"Vietnam is an important pillar of our Act east policy, 45 years of our Diplomatic partnership has now evolved into 10 years of strategic partnership," PM Modi said in a joint statement with Tran.
In this visit, both sides have agreed to expedite the implementation of 100 million dollar line of credit for building high-speed patrol boats for Vietnam border guards and urged for an early signing of the framework on the 500 million line of credit for the defence industry.
The two sides have also agreed to enhance defence ties by including through exchanges of senior-level delegations, co operation between armed forces, port calls of naval coast guard ships, capacity building projects etc.
As of 2015 bilateral trade stands at $7 billion and has reached up to 10 billion dollars as per the latest reports. Both nations have agreed on a target of $20 billion by 2020. In 2010, as the ASEAN-India free trade agreement came into effect, bilateral trade exploded to US$3.917 billion by the end of 2012, with Vietnam exporting $1.7 billion to India in 2012, an increase of 56.5% from 2011.
