EAM Jaishankar meets Vietnam’s top leadership, discusses cooperation in key sectors

“Honoured to call on PM Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam today evening. Conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi. Valued his guidance for the further development of our bilateral relationship. A stronger India-Vietnam partnership contributes to a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” he said in a post on platform X.

Earlier, Jaishankar met his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son and discussed ways to boost cooperation in areas like trade, energy, defence and maritime security while also sharing perspectives on the Indo-Pacific.

Jaishankar and Son also unveiled commemorative stamps celebrating 50 years of establishment of diplomatic ties between India and Vietnam. “Stamps depicting Kalaripayattu and Vovinam capture our shared affinity for sports and celebrate the strong cultural, social & people-to-people links between India and Vietnam,” he posted on X.

The two leaders co-chaired the 18th India-Vietnam Joint Commission meeting in Hanoi.

“Our discussions covered cooperation in political, defence & maritime security, judicial, trade & investment, energy, development, education & training, science & technology, cultural domains,” Jaishankar said. “Convinced that our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will only further strengthen over the coming years. Also shared perspectives on the Indo-Pacific region, our commitment to global issues and our collaboration in various multilateral groupings,” he said.

At the meeting, the two sides comprehensively reviewed and assessed the bilateral relations since the 17th meeting in August 2020 and the implementation of the action plan on the Vietnam-India comprehensive strategic partnership for the 2021-2023 period, the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

Both sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation, and compliance with international law in the East Sea, resolving disputes based on international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the agency said.

It added that the two ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in science, technology and information and expedite the organisation of the 4th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Information Technology as well as negotiate and sign the Vietnam-India Digital Partnership Agreement.

The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations and meetings at all levels between the two countries, maintain the effective implementation of existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and soon put into operation the dialogue mechanism on economic diplomacy at the deputy foreign minister level, it said.

“They pledged to promote the development of an action programme for the 2024 – 2026 period, continue to strengthen defence and security cooperation in the spirit of the Joint Vision Statement on the Vietnam – India Defence Partnership towards 2030 as well as promote negotiations and soon sign a MoU on judicial cooperation between the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the Ministry of Law and Justice of India,” the VNA reported.

Both sides also agreed to closely coordinate to create a favourable environment for trade and investment activities, striving to bring the trade turnover to USD 20 billion soon.

The two ministers committed to considering increasing direct flights between the two countries to enhance cooperation in tourism, economy, trade and people-to-people exchanges. They also agreed to continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations.

Jaishankar affirmed that India supports ASEAN’s centrality in the regional structure, considers ASEAN as the focus of India’s “Act East” policy and pledged to strengthen the Mekong-Ganga cooperation, the news agency reported. He also invited Son to visit India.

Jaishnakar said he had a useful exchange of views with Le Hoai Trung, Chairman of the External Relation Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam. “The convergent approach of India and Vietnam on key regional and global issues was manifest,” he added.

He hosted a reception for Jaishankar during which both sides hailed the strong development of Vietnam-India traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership and agreed to continue promoting cooperation in all fields as well as coordination and consultation at multilateral forums.

The two sides also discussed cooperation through the Party channel and discussed a number of international and regional issues of mutual concern. The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region, comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea. The US, India and several other world powers have been discussing the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military manoeuvring in the resource-rich region.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. China also has territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea.

In his address to the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on “India in the Indo-Pacific”, Jaishankar said that the cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region is in the shared interests of India and Vietnam as he underlined the significance of ASEAN centrality and highlighted the contribution of the Quad grouping.

The US, India, Japan and Australia compose the Quad, a four-way grouping. They have been stepping up cooperation in various fields such as defence and energy amid China’s increasing military and economic clout in the region.

From Vietnam, Jaishankar will travel to Singapore for a visit from October 19 to 20.

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