Indian Prime Minister begins official visit to Vietnam

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his official visit to Vietnam this morning after arriving at Noi Bai airport last night.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) receives flowers upon arriving at Noi Bai airport. Photo: Rediff

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.

The official welcoming ceremony for Prime Minister Modi is expected to take place at the Presidential Palace after Mr. Modi lays a wreath at the Monument to Heroes and Martyrs and visits President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The Indian Prime Minister will then visit Uncle Ho's stilt house, hold talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and sign documents.

In the early afternoon, the Indian Prime Minister visited Quan Su Pagoda at the invitation of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, met with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, and paid courtesy calls to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang.

According to Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Parvathaneni Harish, the two countries may 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, emphasizing that defense cooperation is one of the pillars of the bilateral relationship.

Vietnam and India are about to celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership in 2017. The two countries have expanded security and defense cooperation in all three military services: navy, army and air force; focusing on three areas: training, defense industry and visiting ships, cooperation in sharing information and experience. The two countries' defense ministries established a Defense Policy Dialogue mechanism in 2003.

Vietnam and India have had effective cooperation in oil and gas exploitation since 1988. India continues to cooperate in Vietnam's oil and gas blocks 106 and 128. At multilateral forums, the two countries closely coordinate and support each other at the United Nations, ASEAN, the Regional Security Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting and 8 Partners (ADMM+).

The two countries have now become important trade partners, with bilateral trade turnover reaching 5 billion USD last year, aiming for 15 billion USD by 2020. India ranks 28th out of 110 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with 118 valid investment projects with a total registered capital of 590 million USD.

According to VNE