Brian Jeffrey
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended an invitation to Vietnamese citizens to visit India’s sacred Buddhist sites during a press briefing in New Delhi. This gesture symbolizes the deep spiritual and cultural ties between India and Vietnam as they strengthen their strategic partnership.
Prime Minister Modi expressed his condolences for Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s passing, recognizing him as a good friend of India. He highlighted the advancements in Vietnam-India relations achieved under Trong’s leadership.
Reviewing their bilateral cooperation achievements, Prime Minister Modi mentioned that the relationship was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, leading to an 85% increase in bilateral trade.
Discussions between Prime Minister Modi and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh covered all aspects of cooperation and outlined future directions. Both countries approved a significant credit package for maritime collaboration, counter-terrorism, and cybersecurity to enhance their strategic partnership.
The leaders emphasized leveraging each other’s strengths to boost business connections in emerging fields.
Prime Minister Modi emphasized the shared Buddhist heritage between India and Vietnam, inviting Vietnamese people to embark on a pilgrimage to India’s Buddhist sites to strengthen cultural ties.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed gratitude for the warm reception in India and shared a strategic vision for addressing global challenges through close cooperation among nations.
Vietnam and India aim to elevate their relations and strengthen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership further. Both countries agreed on their cultural similarities, economic complementarities, and the aspiration to build prosperous nations.
They adopted a Joint Declaration to enhance the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the ‘5 More’ approach focusing on political trust, defense cooperation, economic collaboration, science and technology innovation, and cultural exchanges.
The leaders pledged to deepen regional and international cooperation, supporting each other at multilateral forums. Vietnam expressed support for India’s Act East Policy and joined initiatives like the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Solar Alliance.
Both countries emphasized the importance of peace, stability, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, resolving disputes through peaceful means based on international law.
During the visit, nine key cooperation agreements were signed in defense, diplomacy, justice, culture, health, and economic sectors between Vietnam and India.
Thu Hang
