As per information shared by the Ministry of Defence, during the visit of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Vietnam in the second week of January, defence exports and collaboration for training and maintenance of defence equipment will top the agenda.
The Indian defence minister is travelling to Vietnam to celebrate the golden jubilee of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, reports The Economic Times reports.
However, the most important agenda during this visit to Vietnam is to further the cooperation in the defence industry and technology and to build on the relationship between both nations when Singh met with his counterpart Sr Lt Gen Phan Van Giang last year.
Also, both India and Vietnam still use the erstwhile Soviet and Russian manufactured defence equipment, and Vietnam is very much interested in purchasing the Brahmos missile that is jointly developed by New Delhi and Moscow.
This will be Rajnath Singh’s first visit to South East Asia after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The two nations who share a history of having fought a war with China will also discuss the growing Chinese aggression in the ASEAN region in the backdrop of this meeting.
In 2016, India and Vietnam had agreed upon a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) and New Delhi has also extended a $100 million defence line of credit to Hanoi.
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