India has also stepped up defence cooperation with other ASEAN countries like Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore and Malaysia.
NEW DELHI: India and Vietnam will hold their first bilateral naval drill next week while Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharam is scheduled to visit Hanoi next month.
As part of existing operational deployment of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet ships to South East Asia and North West Pacific region, three warships stealth firage, missile corvette and fleet tanker of the Indian Navy will be visiting Tien Sa Port, Danang, Vietnam, from May 21-25.
India and Vietnam are wary of China’s heightened presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and have scaled up their bilateral military ties over the last few years.
Vietnam has also expressed interest in buying BrahMos cruise missiles and the Akash surface-to-air missile defence systems.
India and Vietnam have set a target of $15 billion in bilateral trade by 2020, from $7 billion at present.
While visiting Hanoi in September 2016, Modi had announced a $500 million defence line of credit to Vietnam which is reportedly keen to buy supersonic and surface-to-air missiles from India.
There have also high-level visits from Vietnam to India including by Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc in January this year and President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang in March.
The Indian Navy has had extensive interactions with Vietnam People’s Navy, particularly in the field of training, repairs, maintenance and logistics support aimed at capacity-building.
Vietnam is one of the six countries locked in a maritime territorial dispute with China in hydro-carbon rich South China Sea.
