(VNA) - Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening the traditional friendship and strategic partnership with India.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh made the affirmation at talks with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi on Wednesday, during his visit to India to attend a ceremony reviewing the Vietnam-India 2012 Friendship Year. At the meeting, the two sides discussed measures to make their strategic partnership more practical and effective. They reached a consensus on the establishment of a joint committee on trade, agreements on the transfer of prisoners, mutual judicial assistance in civil matters, a supplementary agreement to the 1993 Aviation Agreement, and a cooperative agreement between the two Ministries of Justice. The two sides agreed to raise two-way trade turnover to 7 billion USD by 2015, and strengthen cooperation in defence, culture, education and people-to-people exchange. Both sides agreed to cooperate at international and regional forums, and affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, maritime security and safety, and the right to access natural resources in the East Sea. Concerned parties in the East Sea should practice restraint, avoid using force or threatening to use force, and solve disputes through peaceful negotiations on the basis of international law, in particular the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ASEAN’s Six-Point Principles on the East Sea, the implementation of the Declaration on Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct.