By IANS
New Delhi : India and Vietnam Monday agreed on a slew of measures to further expand their relations in defence cooperation and “take it to new heights”, it was announced in Hanoi.
Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who is on a three-day visit to Vietnam that began Sunday, announced at a meeting with his counterpart Gen. Phung Quang Thanh in Hanoi that New Delhi will transfer 5,000 items of naval spares belonging to Petya class of ships to Vietnam to make many of the ageing vessels operational.
He also announced the deputation of a four-member team to impart training on UN peacekeeping operations in the first half of next year, a defence ministry release here said.
The two sides also agreed to set up a joint working group to facilitate the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation.
Antony said the measures taken Monday “will open a new chapter in defence cooperation between the two countries that will take the strategic partnership ahead”.
The minister also highlighted the traditionally close and cordial relations between India and Vietnam, the foundations for which were laid by first Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Vietnamese president Ho Chi Minh at their very first meeting in Hanoi 50 years ago.
“The commonality of views of the two countries in many areas are a reflection of our shared strategic interests,” Antony said.
The minister congratulated Vietnam on being elected as a non-permanent member of UN Security Council for a period of two years.
Gen. Phung, in his remarks put forward various proposals including training of Vietnamese defence personnel, enhancing the exchanges of delegations, expanding training cooperation and cooperation between the defence industries of the two countries.
He also suggested an increase in the frequency of goodwill visits by naval ships, application of information technology in defence and e-technology and technical support to the Vietnamese navy.
Phung expressed gratitude to India for providing training to armed forces officers in various areas and said “they are bringing back valuable knowledge and skills to their work areas”.
So far, 49 officers have attended various army and navy courses in India and 64 officers have attended English language courses.
Earlier, on his arrival at the Vietnamese defence ministry, Antony inspected an inter-services guard of honour.