New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will hold a bi-lateral meeting with Minister of National Defence of Vietnam General Phan Van Giang on Monday June 19, officials said on Saturday. Vietnam's Defence Minister will be on a visit to India between June 18-19 and Singh will meet him to carry forward the India-Vietnam defense cooperation.
According to officials, both the sides will exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. They added that General Phan Van Giang will also undertake a cultural visit to Agra, during his stay in the country.
Officials further said that both the countries share a comprehensive strategic partnership. "Bilateral defense relations form a significant pillar of this partnership. Defense engagements between the two nations have diversified to include wide-ranging contacts between the services, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity building and training programs, cooperation in United Nations Peacekeeping, ship visits and bilateral exercises," they said.
Earlier in May this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh held talks in Hiroshima on the sidelines of G7 meet. They discussed different aspects of India-Vietnam friendship, particularly in areas like energy, technology, commerce and defence.
During the visit of Rajnath Singh to Vietnam in June 2022, major overarching guiding documents namely 'Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030' and a Memorandum of Understanding on 'Mutual Logistics Support’ were signed that have significantly enhanced the scope and scale of defense cooperation between the two countries.
Earlier this month, to bolster defense cooperation with India, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius visited the national capital. The leaders held bilateral talks with Rajnath Singh. A host of bilateral defense cooperation issues, with a focus on industrial cooperation, were discussed during the two meetings.
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