Vietnam values progress on $100 mln credit line from India

By Viet Anh   November 20, 2018 | 02:26 am PT
Vietnam values progress on $100 mln credit line from India
India's President Ram Nath Kovind (R) and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Phu Trong attend a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, November 20, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Kham
Defense and security is an important pillar of Vietnam-India partnership, says Party leader and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Addressing a joint press conference Tuesday along with visiting Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, he said Vietnam greatly values India’s continued implementation of a $100 million credit line to build 12 high-speed patrol vessels for Vietnam.

Indian President Kovind is on a three-day official visit ending Tuesday to Vietnam.

"We appreciate India’s progress in implementing a $100 million credit line to build high speed patrol vessels for the Vietnam Border Defense Force. National defense and security is an important pillar in the two countries’ Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," said Trong.

"India guarantees to deepen [Vietnam and India’s] national defense and security cooperation," Kovind said.

Trong also said that Vietnam appreciates the continuing cooperation between Vietnam’s PetroVietnam and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to explore and extract oil and natural gas in Vietnam.

Vietnam also highly values India’s stance on the South China Sea dispute in recent years, and hopes India will continue to support Vietnam’s position, he said. Vietnam calls the waters the East Sea.

President Kovind said Vietnam was a strategic pillar in India’s Look East policy and an important dialogue partner in ASEAN.

"Vietnam and India’s relationship grows on trust and mutual understanding," he said.

Vietnam is the first destination on Kovind’s first visit to Southeast Asia as India’s President.

From January to September 2018, bilateral trade volume between Vietnam and India reached approximately $8.2 billion, compared to $7.6 billion for the whole of last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

As of September 2018, Indian investment in Vietnam totaled $877 million in 201 projects, mainly in telecommunications, information technology and pharmaceuticals.

Vietnam currently has eight investment projects in India with a total investment capital of $6.16 million, mainly in construction materials, cosmetics and animal feed distribution, Vietnam's government news portal reported.

 
 
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