High-level talks: VN, India agree to organize 1st maritime dialogue soon

Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong stressed the point at his talks with his the Indian PresidentRam Nath Kovindat Presidential Palace in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

This is also President Kovind's first foreign visit to an Asian nation since he took office in July last year.

The two leaders noted with pleasure that the bilateral ties have advance robustly across all fields, particularly since the establishment of strategic partnership in 2007. The two countries upgraded ties to comprensive strategic partnership in 2016.

The pair agreed on full implementation of high-level political commitments and signed agreements, including the action program on realization of the comprehensive strategic partnership for the 2017-2020 period.

They expressed their belief that the bilateral trade goal of US$15 billion will soon be achieved thanks to remarkable upward trend over the past time and joint efforts.

The leaders urged inferior levels to strengthen trade promotion in such areas like energy, high-quality agriculture, and oild and gas exploration, including tri-partie cooperation.

They agreed to step up finalization of procedures for Vietjet to launch direct air route from Ho Chi Minh City to New Delhi.

The Indian side pledged to continue granting scholarships to Vietnamese students through its Technical and Economic Cooperation, Cultural Exchange, an General Cultural Scholarship Scheme programs.

The two leaders agreed to accelerate defense and security cooperation-a strategic pillar of the bilateral ties. The Indian side is ready to share experience in organizing and training peace-keeping forces and assisting Viet Nam in overcoming war consequences.

The two sides applauded the implementation of a US$100 million credit package to build high-speed patrol vessels for Viet Nam's border guards and agreed to soon organize the first maritime security dialogue.

Party leader and State President Trong spoke highly of India's important role and voice at international forums. The two sides affirmed to continue close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations.

India backs Viet Nam to win a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the 2020-2021 tenure while the latter supports India to become a non-permanent member of the UNSC in the following term.

President Kovind underlined that Viet Nam is a pillar of India's Act East Policy and a key partner in ASEAN. State President Trong welcomed India's stance on the East Sea over the past time, asking the Indian side to continue advocating the policies of Viet Nam and ASEAN regarding this issue.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of several documents, including a Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications and the Indian Ministry of Communications on communication cooperation, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics in Ha Noi and New Delhi-based Jawarhalal Nehru University on cooperation in academic research and exchange of lecturers and students, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Indian Association of Industries on accelerating bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

(Source: VGP)