New Delhi, 01 August (HS): Bilateral and delegation level talks were held between the Prime Ministers of India and Vietnam today. During this, the action plan related to implementing the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries for the next five years was approved. Also, four MoUs related to taxation, agriculture, telecommunications and law and social justice were signed.

After the talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint press conference with his counterpart Pham Minh Chinh. In this, he attacked expansionism and said that today's era is to focus on development. He said that India and Vietnam will continue their cooperation for an open, free and rule-based and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is on a three-day visit to India. He reached New Delhi on Tuesday. Today he was formally welcomed at Rashtrapati Bhavan. After this, Prime Minister Pham went to Rajghat where he paid tribute to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. After this, bilateral talks were held between Prime Minister Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart at Hyderabad House in Delhi.

The agenda of the talks focused on making the comprehensive strategic partnership more energetic. Both the countries adopted a new action plan to further strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership. New steps were taken for cooperation in the field of defense and security. An agreement was reached on India's $300 million credit line to strengthen Vietnam's maritime security. Both the countries will increase cooperation on the subjects of terrorism and cyber security. Apart from this, the leaders inaugurated the Army Software Park built with Indian assistance at the University of Telecommunications in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said that various areas of bilateral cooperation including economic, defense, development partnership, cultural exchange and others were widely discussed in the talks. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues.

Addressing the press conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Vietnam is our important partner in our Act East Policy and our Indo-Pacific vision. There is a good harmony in the views of both of us about the Indo-Pacific. We support development, not expansionism. We will continue our cooperation for an open, free, rule-based and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

He expressed deep condolences on the demise of Vietnamese Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Chong. Modi said that he was a good friend of India and under his leadership India-Vietnam relations also got strategic direction.

Referring to the shared heritage of Buddhism, the Prime Minister said that it connects the people of both the countries to each other at a spiritual level. He invited the people of Vietnam for religious and spiritual tourism in the Buddhist circuit in India. He also invited the youth of Vietnam to take advantage of Nalanda University.

During the talks, the guest leader of Vietnam invited Prime Minister Modi to visit his country. He said that we congratulate Prime Minister Modi, BJP and NDA for the historic victory in the 18th Lok Sabha elections. We believe that Prime Minister Modi will continue to bring more benefits to the Indian people in his third consecutive term.

Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar / Manoj Kumar Tayal