At the invitation of General Ngo Xuan Lich, Commissioner of the Politburo and Minister of National Defense, Mr. Manohar Parrika, Minister of Indian Defence and the delegation have an official visit to Vietnam from June 5^th- 8^th.

This is the first trip to Vietnam by Mr. Manohar Parrika in his capacity as Minister of Defence of India.

General Ngo Xuan Lich hosted an official welcome ceremony for Mr. Manohar Parrika at the headquarters of Ministry of National Defence in the afternoon of June 5^th.

Then, the two sides held talks, exchanging information on the security situation in the world and the region; assessing the results of cooperation in other multilateral forums such as ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM+); and promoting bilateral cooperarion in the areas of staff training, navy, air force air defence, communication, defence industry and peacekeeping.

In the coming time, the two sides will discuss and come to an agreement on measures which help to promote cooperation in accordance with the content identified in the “Declaration of common vision on Vietnam – India defence ties period 2015-2020”. Defence is considered an important pillar in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

In late May, Economic Times reported companions of Miniter Manohar Parrika are representatives of large weapon companies of India. Indian offcicials also said Defence Ministry of this country was considering the possibility of cooperation and development in producing weapon with Vietnam, determining Vietnam to be a nation to whom they can export almost all kinds of weapons, including the most advanced system such as anti-ship missile BrahMos.

“The Ministry of Defence of Vietnam highly appreciated the importance of the visit for the strengthening of the friendly relations between the two armies, for the benefit of the two peoples, for peace, stability, cooperation and common development of the region,” said Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich. Indian Defence Minister is the first counterpart he has welcomed since serving as Defence Minister.

During the visit, the delegation will pay a courtesy visit to President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc; participate in meetings with defence enterprises and visit some military units of Vietnam./.

VNF