Hanoi: PM Modi extends US$ 500 million defence credit line to Vietnam

India and Vietnam will expand and deepen cooperation in key areas of defence, security and trade, oil exploration, solar energy and some other sectors after leaders of the two countries meet today in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to hold bilateral talks. Bilateral trade between India and Vietnam touches US$8 billion. As ASEAN country coordinator for India during 2016-18, Vietnam can take forward relations between the two sides even further, he added.

“India will engage constructively on all the issues before us and work towards finding solutions and taking forward the agenda for a robust, inclusive and sustainable global economic order that uplifts the socio-economic conditions of people across the world, especially those who need it most in developing countries”, Prime Minister Modi has said in his tweet on the G20 summit.

India said Saturday it is giving Vietnam half a billion dollars in credit to boost defense ties, the latest security deal between the two nations seeking to counter Beijing’s muscle-flexing in the South China Sea.

“It (Asean) is central to our Act East Policy”.

Mr Modi also announced a line of credit of 500 million U.S. dollars to Vietnam to facilitate deeper defence cooperation. “Vietnam looks to India to provide a strategic option vis a vis the South China Sea”, said retired Indian Navy vice-admiral Pradeep Chauhan.

“We must also intensify our coordination in regional and multilateral fora”, he told Modi, who reiterated that India always stood as a friend with Vietnam throughout history. “Indian investments in Vietnam are now at about 1.1 billion dollars, and would be significantly enhanced upon implementation of large infrastructure projects such as Tata Power’s Long Phu – II 1,320 MW thermal power project with an estimated cost of 2.2 billion dollars”, he added.

Modi arrived here on Friday ahead of his visit to China to attend the G-20 Summit to be held on September 4-5. The Prime Minister said Buddhism took the sea route from India to Vietnam, and therefore Vietnam has received the purest form of Buddhism.

As part of his day’s engagements, the Prime Minister called on Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang who expressed his support for India’s Act East Policy.

Mr. Modi noted that Vietnam is undergoing rapid development and strong economic growth.

Prime Minister Modi also invited the Buddhist monks and nuns present at the Quan Su Pagoda to visit the “land of Buddha” India and his parliamentary constituency Varanasi. This signals the increased strategic partnership between the two Asian countries, the ministry said in a statement.