New Delhi: India and Vietnam are in discussions for the sale of a number of defence platforms including the BrahMos, New Delhi confirmed Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered India’s support for maintenance, repair and upgrading of a number of Vietnamese defence platforms including the Sukhoi Su-30 aircraft and the Kilo class submarines.
“Vietnam is an important partner in the Indo-Pacific and all these areas we cooperate in, are based on the broad premise that a strong Vietnam will support the cause of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. We talk about a number of platforms and the Brahmos platform is one of them. On BrahMos, specifically, watch this space,” P Kumaran, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs said of a special briefing.
The briefing occurred after bilateral talks between Modi and Vietnamese President To Lam were held in the national capital Wednesday. The Vietnamese President is in India for a three-day visit and will depart for Mumbai Thursday morning. To Lam visited Gaya Tuesday, before reaching New Delhi late afternoon.
The two leaders agreed to elevate ties to an “Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” during their talks in the national capital.
Vietnam has emerged as an important trading and strategic partner for India in South East Asia. India had earlier offered a line of credit worth $500 million during his visit to the country in 2016.
Kumaran, announced that projects worth $300 million for this defence line of credit have been identified and tender proposals have been issued, which includes the purchase of 14 patrol boats. The remaining $200 million will be spent on upgrading ships of the Vietnamese Navy and the purchase of submarine batteries, explained India’s Secretary (East).
The larger focus of the defence partnership, includes “capacity building and training for the Vietnamese Army, joint United Nations peacekeeping missions and port calls and ship visits,” said Kumaran.
“India and Vietnam are looking to institute a 2+2 dialogue at the level of defence and foreign ministers, and are pursuing an agreement on the share of white shipping information,” he added.
“Both sides agreed to deepen cooperation between the Ministry of Public Security of Viet Nam and the National Security Council Secretariat of India to realize shared objectives. They further agreed to broaden collaboration in the fields of information sharing, cybersecurity, counterterrorism and combating high-tech crime, transnational crime, money laundering and online scams,” read the joint statement issued by both leaders Wednesday. “In addition, both sides underscored the importance of effectively utilizing existing cooperation mechanisms, including the India-Viet Nam Security Dialogue.”
While defence and security cooperation was a main part of the agenda between the two leaders, both sides also agreed to 13 agreements including on critical minerals.
Vietnam is set to send samples of available rare earths from their country, before India will look to set up a joint venture to potentially explore, mine and process these minerals.
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India seeks parity in AITIGA review
The two leaders issued a target to hit $25 billion in trade by 2030. Current trade in goods between the two countries is roughly $16 billion.
A large part of the increase in trade would be aided by the successful review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA). The preferential trade agreement has been under review by both sides.
India has long sought tariff parity and liberalisation amongst all 10 member states of ASEAN. While countries such as Singapore have reduced tariffs on 99 per cent of Indian goods, other countries including Cambodia and Laos have been willing to liberalise tariff lines.
Vietnam along with Indonesia are two countries that have yet to fully liberalise tariffs for Indian merchandise. Kumaran said Wednesday that India has sought at least 70 per cent tariff liberalisation by all members of ASEAN, with an overall goal to see around 80 per cent of tariff lines liberalised.
India has provided close to 80 per cent liberalisation of tariff lines for the ASEAN nations. The two leaders agreed to conclude the ASEAN review as soon as possible, with a sense of finalising the new deal by the end of the year.
“We seem to have arrived at some kind of understanding (with the ASEAN nations). The details are being fleshed out as we speak and in the coming months we should have greater clarity on the review being completed,” said Kumaran.
The ASEAN member states include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, East Timor and Thailand.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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