India and Vietnam signed 12 agreements in a wide range of areas covering defence, IT, space, double taxation and sharing white shipping information, signalling a strong upward push in their strategic ties. The agreements were signed by officials of the two sides in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

• Vietnam has shown a keen interest in air and defense production. India’s L&T will build offshore high speed patrol boats for Vietnamese Coast Guards, while an agreement was signed on programme of cooperation in UN peacekeeping matters.

• PM Modi said New Delhi will provide $500 million credit line for Vietnam for defence cooperation. India also offered a grant of $5 million to set up a software park in Vietnam.

  This is the first bilateral prime ministerial visit from India to Vietnam in 15 years since the visit of then premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.

• 12 for togetherness! India & Vietnam sign a dozen agreements for further strengthening the Strategic Partnership,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

• In addition, MoU between Vietnamese Academy of Social Science and Indian Council of World Affairs, MoU between BIS and STAMEQ for mutual recognition of standards, agreement on setting up of sustainable IT Infra for advanced IT training and protocol between Vietnam and India on celebrating 2017 as ‘The Year Of Friendship’ were also signed..

Vietnam

Capital: Hanoi