(VNF) – The 10th Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) and 7th Strategic Dialogue between India and Vietnam were held in New Delhi on April 9 - 10.

Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Dinh Quy and Secretary of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Preeti Saran. (Photo: VNA)

The FOC, jointly chaired by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Dinh Quy and Secretary of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Preeti Saran, reviewed the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, particularly the fruitful development of the Vietnam-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the prospects for future cooperations.

On the occasion, Deputy FM Quy applauded India for successfully organising the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and affirmed Vietnam’s willingness to serve as a bridge connecting India with other ASEAN member nations and promote all-around cooperation between the country and the bloc, as the coordinator of ASEAN-India relations in 2015-2018.

In addition, the Vietnamese official spoke highly of India’s stance on recent East Sea-related issues, assuring that Vietnam is ready to work with India and other ASEAN countries to promote maritime security cooperation in regional forums in the coming time.

In terms of economic-trade relations, Deputy FM Quy suggested the Indian side to restrict trade barriers to Vietnam’s exports.

Overview of the meeting (source: VNA)

Preeti Saran, for her part, hailed the role played by Vietnam in coordinating with the Indian side in organising the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting.

She also expressed her delight at the strong growth of two-way trade in recent time, and agreed to hold the 4th Meeting of the Joint Sub-Commission on Trade in 2018 in Vietnam, which will set out measures to reach the 15-billion-USD trade goal by 2020.

The two sides pledged to effectively implement the Action Plan for the period of 2017-2020, thus promoting the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in all areas of cooperation and discussed on the next political consultation and strategic dialogue to be held in Vietnam in 2019./.

( VNF )