Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shake hands ahead of the talks
(VOVworld)- Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has said Vietnam always attaches importance to maintaining and boosting the traditional friendship and strategic cooperation with India.
During talks between General Secretary Trong and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday, both leaders agreed on specific ways to enhance cooperation in the five pillars of their strategic partnership. The two nations will regularly exchange high-ranking delegations, maintain and uphold the existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms in diplomacy, defense, and security. Both also reached consensus on further strengthening the strategic partnership towards creating new breakthroughs in economic and trade cooperation to match bilateral potentials and aspirations. The leaders agreed to expand cooperation in oil and gas in Vietnam’s territorial waters in the East Sea.
Regarding regional and global issues of mutual concern, both the host and the guest said that related countries and the international community should strive to ensure peace, territorial sovereignty, and security for all nations, maintain an environment of peace, stability, cooperation, and development in Asia and Pacific. Meanwhile, they said all disputes on the East Sea should be settled by peaceful means, in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They pledged close coordination in their viewpoints and activities in regional and global forums. PM Manmohan Singh affirmed that India will support Vietnam to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020 – 2021 term. In return, Vietnam pledged to support India’s participation in mechanisms where ASEAN plays a central role, contributing to maintaining the peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Southeast Asia and East Asia.
Following talks, the two leaders held a joint press conference on the outcomes of their talks. Party leader Trong said: “With great interests and potential for bilateral cooperation, the two sides established the strategic partnership in 2007. My visit aimed at expanding and deepening our strategic partnership. The Indian Prime Minister and I had open, reliable and practical talks”.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: “We want to further the bilateral ties between India and Vietnam in various areas, not only within the framework of bilateral but also of multi-lateral cooperation. Vietnam is currently a country with the highest economic growth rate in the Asia Pacific region and India highly appreciates this development. India considers Vietnam a reliable and important partner and relationship with Vietnam is an important pillar in our Look East policy”.
The two leaders witnessed the signing of eight cooperative documents including an Air Service Agreement, an MoU between the two Ministries of Finance, an agreement on the Protection of Classified Information, and an MOU between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and Tata Power Ltd. on the development of Long Phu 2 Thermal Power Project.