by Sitanshu Kar in Hanoi, Vietnam(December, 17, Hanoi, Vietnam, Sri Lanka Guardian) India and Vietnam have agreed on a slew of measures to further expand their relations in defence cooperation and ‘take it to a new height’. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony who is on a three day visit to Vietnam, announced at the meeting with his counterpart General Phung Quang Thanh in Hanoi today that New Delhi will transfer 5000 naval spares belonging to Petya class of ship to Vietnam to make many of the ageing ships operational. He also announced the deputation of a four member team to impart training on UN Peace Keeping Operations in the first half of next year. The two sides also agreed to set up a Joint Working Group to facilitate the signing of MOU on defence cooperation. Shri Antony said the measures taken today ‘will open a new chapter in defence cooperation between the two countries that will take the strategic partnership ahead’.
Shri Antony highlighted the traditionally close and cordial relations between India and Vietnam, the foundations for which were laid by Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh in their very first meeting in Hanoi 50 years ago.. He said the commonality of views of the two countries in many areas are a reflection of their shared strategic interests. Shri Antony congratulated Vietnam on being elected as non-permanent member of UN Security Council for a period of two years and said New Delhi attaches tremendous importance to the Strategic Partnership forged between the two Prime Ministers in July this year.
Gen Phung Quang Thanh 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 increase in the frequency of goodwill visits by naval ships, application of information technology in defence and e- technology and technical support to Vietnamese navy. The Vietnamese Defence Minister 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, a total of 49 officers have attended various Army and Navy Courses and 64 officers have attended English language courses.
Earlier, on his arrival at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Shri Antony inspected an inter-services guard of honour.
 India and Vietnam have agreed on a slew of measures to...){kind=link}
Post a Comment