This was noted by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh when he received in this capital the day before the Foreign Minister of the South Asian country, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who will travel to Ho Ci Minh City this Tuesday at the end of a three-day visit to this Indochinese Nation.
At the meeting, Minh Chinh called on India to continue supporting Vietnam in preparing and improving the capacity of security and defense forces and also promote bilateral relations in the field of cybersecurity.
The Vietnamese leader also highlighted the complementary strengths of the two economies and called on relevant authorities to work to increase bilateral trade to $20 billion.
In this sense, it was necessary for each party to further facilitate the opening of the market for the other party’s products, limit the application of trade barriers and create a favorable corridor for trade and investment activities.
Minh Chinh also expressed hope that India would encourage large companies to invest in Vietnam in strategically important areas such as infrastructure, seaports, logistics, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, and renewable energy.
Both sides should actively expand cooperation in new areas such as digital transformation, climate change response, energy transition and green growth, he added.
The Prime Minister praised the successful organization of the 18th meeting of the Vietnam-India Joint Commission on Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, which met here on Monday under the co-chairmanship of Jaishankar and his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son.
At the meeting, VNA news agency reported, both parties reviewed and assessed the development of bilateral relations since the previous edition in 2020, as well as the implementation of the action plan of the Vietnam-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the period 2021-2023.
They also advocated accelerating the development of an action plan for the period 2024-2026 and further strengthening defense and security relations, and decided to advance negotiations with a view to signing a memorandum of understanding on judicial cooperation.
India views Vietnam as an important partner in the region for the implementation of its Act East policy, said Jaishankar, who reiterated his country’s support for the pivotal role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its core principles in resolving regional problems.
lam/mpm