New Delhi: Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Narendra Modi called all parties concerned in the disputed South China Sea to exercise restraint and avoid threats.
Dung and his wife Tran Thanh Kiem were welcomed by Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan with a guard of honour on Tuesday.
Dung began his India visit by touching down at Bodh Gaya in Bihar Monday. He is accompanied by a 50-member business delegation.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the developments in recent years which have led to a continuous strengthening of the Strategic Partnership between India and Vietnam. They reaffirmed their commitment for comprehensive development of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
Modi reaffirmed that Vietnam was an important pillar of India’s Look East Policy while Dung welcomed a greater role for India in the regional and international arena.
The two leaders called for early implementation of $100 million Line of Credit Agreement for defence procurement extended by India to Vietnam.
They expressed hope that the ongoing robust defence and security cooperation between India and Vietnam will continue to be strengthened through regular exchanges at high level.
Prime Minister Dung was accompanied by a large business delegation which had separate meetings with apex chambers of commerce and industry of India including CII, FICCI, and ASSOCHAM.
Business leaders on both sides identified the following sectors as priority areas for cooperation: -hydrocarbons, power generation, infrastructure, tourism, textiles, footwear, medical and pharmaceuticals, ICT, electronics, agriculture, agro-products, chemicals, machine tools and other supporting industries.
They agreed to take measures to significantly expand and diversify bilateral trade for mutually beneficial results and agreed to enhance the trade targets to $ 15 billion by 2020.
Dung welcomed Indian companies to invest in Vietnam and affirmed Vietnam’s commitment to create favourable conditions for Indian investments.
Modi invited the Vietnamese companies to join the accelerated economic growth programme ‘Make in India’ for reaping the benefits of this new initiative.