India,Vietnam strengthen peacekeeping ties
The fifth edition of the bilateral military exercise VINBAX 2024, involving the armed forces of India and Vietnam, is underway at Ambala, Haryana.
President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang on Saturday paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here, officials said.
Quang laid a wreath of white carnations and offered red rose petals at the memorial of the ‘father of the nation’ on the banks of River Yamuna. He was also presented with a bust of Gandhi.
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Earlier in the day, Quang, who is on his first State visit to India received a ceremonial welcome and inspected a guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
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He was welcomed by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting dignitary,
From Rajghat, Quang headed to Hyderabad House to hold bilateral talks with Modi.
India is pushing ahead with its engagements with southeast Asia under the Act East Policy. Following the talks, a number of agreements across different sectors are expected to be signed.
The visiting dignitary will also attend a Vietnam-India Business Forum and the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Days in India 2018.
Vietnam is an important partner in southeast Asia under New Delhi’s Act East Policy and is currently the country coordinator for India with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc, a role that will be handed over to Thailand later this year.
Apart from Asean, India and Vietnam closely cooperate in other regional forums such as the East Asia Summit, Mekong Ganga Cooperation, Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) besides the UN and WTO.
India-Vietnam trade stood at $6.24 billion in fiscal 2016-17 and the two sides have agreed to raise this to $15 billion by 2020.
Defence has emerged as an important pillar of the bilateral relationship and Indian ships regularly make friendly port calls to Vietnam.
India is also an important development aid partner for Vietnam and has extended several lines of credit for capacity building in the Southeast Asian nation.
Vietnam is also among the larger recipients of scholarships offered under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
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