Ministers Bui Thanh Son (R) had a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on June 17

Along with raising two-way trade to 15 billion USD right in 2022, both countries should strengthen cooperation in different areas such as culture, people-to-people exchange, science-technology, energy, and education-training in a more effective and substantial manner, they concurred.

They also agreed to work together to remove difficulties facing investment cooperation projects towards more sustainable and healthy trade relations.

The two FMs shared the delight at the progress of the Viet Nam-India ties, even during COVID-19 period.

Son, who was in India for the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) and the 12^th Delhi Dialogue, congratulated India for successfully organising the events.

He thanked the Indian side for providing helpful support to Viet Nam in the COVID-19 fight. He asked for coordination from India to prepare for upcoming high-level visits, and invited FM Jaishankar to visit Vietnam and co-chair the 18^th meeting of the Viet Nam-India Joint Committee on economic, trade, science-technology cooperation in Hanoi in the second half of 2022.

Son suggested that India create favourable conditions for Vietnamese farm produce, including rambutan, longan and durian to enter the Indian market, while encouraging Indian firms to invest in Viet Nam in areas of Indian strength and Vietnamese demand such as innovation, high technology, IT, and pharmaceuticals.

For his part, Jaishankar congratulated Viet Nam on overcoming COVID-19 to recover the economy and become a bright spot in the region in investment attraction and tourism.

He agreed with the Vietnamese FM’s proposals, and pledged to coordinate with Viet Nam to organise activities to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.

He affirmed that India considers Viet Nam an important pillar of its “Act East” policy, vowing to work to further promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in the future, thus meeting the demands and interests of both sides.

The two FMs also discussed a number of regional and international issues of shared concern. They agreed to continue their close coordination and mutual support at international and regional forums, especially the UN and within the ASEAN-India cooperation framework.

They highlighted the significance of maintaining security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight at seas and oceans in line with international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Following the meeting, the ministers witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in cybersecurity between the Viet Nam Cybersecurity Emergency Response Teams/Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Cybersecurity Emergency Response Teams/Coordination Centre under India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Earlier, at a meeting with a delegation from the India-Viet Nam Solidarity Committee in West Belgan State led by its President Kusum Jain, Son affirmed that Viet Nam always treasures sentiments of generations of Indian friends towards Viet Nam.

He said he hopes Jain and the committee will continue to help connect Vietnamese and Indian people, contributing to reinforcing the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in the three key pillars of politics, economy and culture.

Kusum Jain affirmed that the committee will continue to make more contributions to the people-to-people exchange between the two countries.

The same day, the two FMs co-chaired a ceremony to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Viet Nam-India diplomatic relations at the Vietnamese Embassy in New Delhi, which drew about 200 Indian guests.

Addressing the ceremony, Son highlighted important achievements of the Viet Nam-India ties over the past 50 years, underlining that the two nations have always supported each other during the past struggle for independence as well as the current national construction and development.

He expressed his belief that with the high determination of leaders of both countries and support from their people, the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to thrive for the interests of people of the two counties and for peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the world.

At the ceremony, the logo of the Viet Nam-India 50-year-ties was announced, along with the screening of a documentary film on the history of bilateral relations./.