Rajnath Singh holds bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang

New Delhi [India], June 19 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with Minister of National Defence of Vietnam General Phan Van Giang on Monday to further boost the defence cooperation between India and Vietnam.

Vietnam’s Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang is on an official visit to India from June 18-19. The minister will during his stay, also undertake a cultural visit to Agra.

Earlier in the day, General Phan Van Giang, Minister of National Defence of Vietnam laid a wreath at National War Memorial here.

The two will also exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

India and Vietnam share a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Bilateral defence relations form a significant pillar of this partnership, as per a release issued by the Ministry of Defence.

According to the release, defence engagements between the two nations have diversified to include wide-ranging contacts between the services, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity building and training programmes, cooperation in UN Peacekeeping, ship visits and bilateral exercises.

During Rajnath Singh’s visit to Vietnam in June 2022, major overarching guiding documents namely ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ and a Memorandum of Understanding on ‘Mutual Logistics Support’ were signed that have significantly enhanced the scope and scale of defence cooperation between both the countries.

Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (East) Saurabh Kumar and Vice Chairman of National Boundary Commission of Vietnam Trinh Duc Hai recently discussed ways to further strengthen India-Vietnam bilateral relations including in the realm of defence, security and maritime cooperation.

“Secy (East) @AmbSaurabhKumar met Vice Chairman Trinh Duc Hai of the National Boundary Commission of Vietnam today. Discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral relations including in the realm of defence, security and maritime cooperation,” MEA Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. (ANI)