On the afternoon of August 26, at the Government Headquarters, Politburo Member, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung received Mr. Pabitra Margherita, State Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to pay a courtesy visit on the occasion of the State Secretary's visit to Vietnam and attend activities to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries (2016 - 2026).
At the meeting, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always supports India to promote its increasingly high role in the international arena, including the BRICS Host role in 2026.
The Prime Minister thanked the High-Level Leaders, Government and people of India for their very respectful, thoughtful and friendly reception during the State visit to India by General Secretary and President To Lam, highly appreciating the results achieved through the visit, contributing to opening a new page for Vietnam-India relations.
Secretary of State Pabitra Margherita emphasized that Vietnam is one of the leading important partners in India's "Eastward Action" policy, India's Indo-Pacific Vision and India's key partner in ASEAN.
The State Minister highly appreciated the long-standing friendly relationship, the connection of culture, history, and civilization of thousands of years between the people of the two countries and expressed his pleasure at the increasingly vibrant people-to-people exchanges, contributing to consolidating the solid foundation of Vietnam-India relations.
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and Secretary of State Pabitra Margherita agreed that Vietnam and India have many similarities in vision and aspirations for development, in which Vietnam sets a goal to become a developed country by 2045, India sets a goal to become a developed country by 2047; the upgrade of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Strengthening opens up many opportunities for the two countries to accompany, cooperate, and support each other.
On that basis, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung requested ministries and sectors of the two countries to continue to concretize the high-level commitments and agreements reached during the visit of General Secretary and President To Lam; maintain high-level exchanges and contacts, consolidate political trust, and coordinate to organize meaningful activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2027.
The Prime Minister requested that the two sides actively exchange views on the possibility of bilateral FTA negotiations, thereby facilitating trade, connecting the two economies and removing bottlenecks in market access, striving to achieve the two-way trade target of 25 billion USD and doubling two-way investment; promote cooperation in science and technology and high-quality human resource development; encourage large Indian technology corporations to invest in Vietnam, especially in technology, infrastructure, energy and pharmaceuticals; continue to study to increase the frequency of direct flights, meeting the increasing demand for travel, trade and tourism between the two countries.
Secretary of State Pabitra Margherita respectfully thanked Prime Minister Le Minh Hung for his concern for the relations between the two countries, especially thanked the Vietnamese Government for implementing drastic and timely measures to support the victims of the train capsizing accident in Phu Quoc recently.
The State Councilor expressed his desire to promote cooperation in defense and security, including defense industry, trade, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, textiles, rare earths, remote sensing... based on the results achieved during the visit to India by General Secretary and President To Lam; agreed to coordinate the organization of cultural, sports, and film exchange activities... in the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations to further strengthen people-to-people exchanges and tourism between the two countries.
Exchanging views on regional and international cooperation, the two sides agreed to continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, promoting peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Indo-Pacific region.
Secretary of State Pabitra Margherita thanked Vietnam for always supporting India at international forums, especially at the United Nations; affirmed her desire to continue to strengthen ASEAN-India cooperation, especially in connectivity, maritime cooperation and maritime security.
