With China flexing its muscles in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region, India and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a vision document to further broad-base the “scope and scale” of their defence ties by 2030.
The two nations also firmed up a logistics support pact to allow militaries of the two sides to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies. These two documents were signed after bilateral talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang in Hanoi.
Rajnath described the interaction as “fruitful.”
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support is the first such major agreement that Vietnam has signed with any country.
Rajnath said the close defence and security cooperation between India and Vietnam is an important factor for stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
“In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence forces of the two countries, this (logistics pact) is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” the defence ministry said in a statement. Rajnath arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday on a three-day visit.
The two defence ministers signed the ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ that provides for expansion of defence and military ties in diverse areas, officials said.
In a tweet, Rajnath said the “wide-ranging discussions” were focused on “effective and practical” initiatives to further expand bilateral engagements. Regional and global issues also figured in the talks, he added.
The vision document came amid growing congruence between the two countries in the maritime security domain amid China’s increasing muscle-flexing in the region.
The two ministers also agreed to the early finalisation of the 500 million dollar defence Line of Credit (LoC) extended to Vietnam by India. The implementation of the projects under the LoC will add substantially to Vietnam’s defence capabilities and further Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’.
Rajnath also announced gifting of two simulators and monetary grants towards setting up a language and IT laboratory at the Air Force Officers Training School for capacity building of the Vietnamese armed forces.
Rajnath will also preside over the handing over ceremony of 12 high-speed boats to Vietnam at the Hong Ha yard in Hai Phong, with the boats built by Larsen and Toubro under India’s $100 million defence Line of credit to the south-east Asian country.
Vietnam, an important country of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), has territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea region.
India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea. India and Vietnam are boosting their maritime security cooperation in the last few years to protect common interests.
Ties between the two countries were elevated to the level of ‘strategic partnership’ during the visit of Vietnam’s then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to India in July 2007.