India provides additional $500 million defense credit to Vietnam

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he had signed an agreement to build patrol boats for Vietnam and provide a new defense line of credit.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a press conference on the morning of September 3. Photo: Giang Huy

"I am pleased to announce a new line of credit of $500 million to Vietnam to further strengthen our defense cooperation," Modi said at a press conference with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during his official visit to Vietnam today.

Indian Prime Minister said the two countries have signedThe agreement to build patrol boats represents a concrete step forward in defense relations between Vietnam and India.Vietnam Border Guard and Indian company Larsen & Toubro haveSigning a contract to design, construct, and build a new ship in India, and hand it over to Vietnam. India will also provide materials, equipment, and transfer technology for new shipbuilding in Vietnam.

However, Mr. Modi did not specify the value of the patrol ships India built for Vietnam.Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Parvathaneni Harish previously revealed that the two countries could finalize the signing of an agreement to provide four fast patrol boats to Vietnam under a $100 million credit package. The memorandum of understanding on the $100 million credit line for Vietnam was signed by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in September 2014 during his visit to Vietnam.

Indian Prime Minister Modi spent a full day meeting with Vietnamese leaders and visiting several landmarks in Hanoi. This is Mr. Modi's first visit to Vietnam as Indian Prime Minister, in the context of India attaching importance to promoting cooperation with Vietnam as a pillar in its relations with the Southeast Asian region.

Vietnam and India are celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations and 10 years of strategic partnership in 2017.

After leaving Vietnam, Prime Minister Modi went to China to attend the G20 Summit. He then went to Laos to attend related conferences with ASEAN.

According to VNE