Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung concludes his visit to India.

On the evening of October 28 (local time), Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his wife, along with the high-level Vietnamese delegation, departed from New Delhi, successfully concluding their official visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Republic of India from October 27-28.

Early this morning (October 29), Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his wife, along with the high-level delegation of the Vietnamese Government, arrived back in Hanoi.

The Prime Ministers of the two countries waved to each other, symbolizing a bright future. Photo: VGP

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Indian leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the comprehensive development of the Strategic Partnership. The Indian side affirmed that Vietnam is an important pillar in India's Look East policy. Both sides agreed to further strengthen exchanges of delegations at all levels through established dialogue mechanisms and to effectively implement the agreements signed between the two countries.

Particularly during the talks between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved in defense cooperation, including delegation exchanges, the annual Defense Policy Dialogue, cooperation between military branches, exchange of visiting ships, training, capacity building, and cooperation in regional forums, including the Humanitarian Mine Action Program. The two Prime Ministers requested the early implementation of the $100 million credit agreement provided by India to Vietnam for defense procurement.

The two Prime Ministers agreed that strengthening economic cooperation is a strategic objective of bilateral relations; welcomed the strong growth in bilateral trade in recent years, especially after the signing of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on Goods Exchange, and emphasized that the signing of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on Services and Investment will further boost economic cooperation between India and ASEAN in general and with Vietnam in particular.

The two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction with the stable growth of bilateral trade and investment through effective cooperation between business leaders of the two countries; agreed to take measures to strongly promote and diversify bilateral trade for mutual benefit, and agreed to achieve a target of US$15 billion in bilateral trade by 2020. To achieve this goal, the two Prime Ministers called on business leaders and policymakers of both countries to effectively utilize events such as the India-CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam) Business Forum.

The two Prime Ministers also welcomed the signing of the Oil and Gas Exploration Agreement for new projects in Vietnam between ONGC Videsh and Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung welcomed Indian oil and gas companies to take advantage of new opportunities to participate in midstream and downstream oil and gas activities in Vietnam.

The two Prime Ministers welcomed cooperation in establishing capacity-building research institutes in Vietnam in information technology, English language training, business development, high-tech computing, and other fields; and called for the early completion of planned cooperation projects, including the establishment of an English and Informatics Training Center at the University of Information and Communication Technology in Nha Trang, a Software Development and Training Talent Center in Ho Chi Minh City, and a Satellite Signal Detection and Image Data Reception Center in Ho Chi Minh City. Both sides also agreed to continue cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to promote cooperation in the space sector, including satellite launches.

The two Prime Ministers highly appreciated the cooperation and coordination between the two countries in regional and international forums; and agreed to strengthen cooperation, especially within ASEAN, RCEP, ARF, ADMM+, EAS, the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, ASEM and WTO, as well as other regional cooperation mechanisms. Both sides believed that Vietnam's role as Coordinator of ASEAN-India relations from 2015-2018 would further promote closer cooperation between the two countries as ASEAN moves towards achieving its goal of becoming a Community by 2015.

The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed their desire and determination to jointly maintain peace, stability, development, and prosperity in Asia and the world. Both sides agreed that freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea cannot be impeded and called on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, refrain from the use or threat of force, and resolve disputes through peaceful means in accordance with recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The two Prime Ministers welcomed the shared commitment of the relevant parties to abide by and implement the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and to work towards building a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) on the basis of consensus.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's successful official visit to India has made a significant contribution to further strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries, with a focus on economic cooperation; and to further deepen cooperation in the fields of science and technology, culture and education, tourism, aviation, etc. At the same time, the two sides also exchanged views on many regional and international issues of mutual concern.

According to chinhphu.vn