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Focusn i ietn mConsolidating BilateralTiesThe recent visit of
Nguyen PhuTrong Secre tary e ne ra l of theVietnamCommunist arty to
India demonstrates thegrowing convergence instrategic interests
between Indiaan dVietnamthat will grow in breadthand depth n the
coming dec ades maintains Carlyle AThayer
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trangmeeting the Prime Minister. Or
Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on November 20 2013
T he Secretary General of the VietnamCommunist Party. guyen
PhuTrong, made a state visit to IndiaIrorn November 19-22 at the
invitationof Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.Secretary General
Trong holds no post inVietnams government and is not a memberof
Cabinet. The fact that India accorded himthe honour of an official
visit is a refle ctionof the close political ties between India
andVietnam and Indias acknowledgment ofTrongs role in Vi tnams
one-party state.Sustained Growth in Bilateral Tic.Although
political ties between Indiaand Vietnam and their national
leadersdates back to the years after India gainedindependence, the
two countries formallyextended diplomatic recognition only in1972.
A decade later. a major milestonewas reached when the two sides
establishedthe India-Vietnam Joint Committeefor Economic, Cultural.
cientific andTechnological Cooperation to provideoversight of their
bilateral relation .Another milestone occurred inNovember 2007
during the course of a visitto India by Prime Minister Nguy n
TanDung, when India and Vietnam adopteda thirty-three point Joint
Declaration onStrategic Partnership. At that time. Vietnamhad
established strategic partnerships withonly two other nations -
Russia in 200 I andJapan in 2006.TIle India-Vietnam strategic
partnershipis based on five pillars: political. defenceand security
cooperation: economic andcommercial engagement and cl iser tradand
inv -stment: science and technologycooperation: cultural and
technicalcooperation: and cooperation at multilateraland regional
forums.The first pillar of cooperation - political.defence and
security - is undoubt .dly themainstay of the strategic
partnership. Itembraces six important areas: an annualtrategic
Dialogue at deputy minister level;defence supplies. joint project .
trainingand intelligence exchanges: exchangevisits by defence and
security 01icials:capacity building. technical assistance
andinformation sharing related to ecurityof sea lanes, anti-piracy,
prev ntion ofpollution and search and rescue: antiterrorism and
cyber security; and nontraditional security issue: (drug
trafficking,natural disa:tel relief. climate change.energy
security. HIV/AlDs. avian influenzaand other epidemics).A month
after the Declaration onStrategic Partnership, D fense Minister\ K
Anthony travelled to IIanni to signa I lemorandum of Cooperation
with hiscounterpart. General Phung Quang Thanh.
EXTRAORDINARY ND PLENIPOTENTIARY DIPLOMATIST . January 2014
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The MoU provided for cooperation innational defence, navy, air
defence andmilitary training.Since 2007, India and Vietnam
haveregularly exchanged high-level visitsincluding heads of
government, defenceministers and se rvice chiefs. In December20 II
, for example, Vietnam's PresidentTruong Tan Sang made a state
visit toIndia. President Sang requested defenceassistance in four
areas: training forsubmariners; pilot conversion training forthe
Su-30; modernisation of Nha Trangport; and the acquisition of
medium-sizednaval warships. .New High in the Strategic a ndEconomic
PartnershipTIle year 20 13 turned out to be a pivotalone. In .Iuly,
India offered Vietnam a $ 100million Line of Credit for the
purchase offour patrol boats. Observers noted that thiswas the
first time India had made this offerto a country outside of South
Asia.ecretary General Trongs visit marksa new high point in
bilateral relations. Hewas accompanied by six Cabinet members.Prime
Minister Dr Manmohan Singh toldhis guests, " We regard Vietnam as a
trustedand privileged strateg ic partner and animportant pillar of
our ' Look East' policy."Aller holding formal discussions, the
twoleaders witnessed the signing of eightmaj or documents related
to priorit y areasunder the strategic partnership.
cco rding to the Joint S tatementissued on November 21, the two
leaders"agreed that de fence cooperation wasa significant pillar of
the strategicpartnership" and the two sides shouldwork out suitable
terms and conditionsfor Vietnam to usc the Line of Credit "inthe
field of defence." India agreed to setup an English and IT Training
Centre atthe Nationa l Defence Academy in Hanoi.Also. an agreement
on the Protection ofClassified Information was signed.Most notably.
the second pillar ofthe strategic partnership - economicand
commercial engagement and closertrade and investment - was
elevatedin importance. According to the Jo intStatement, "the
leaders agreed thatenhancing the economic partnershipwas one of the
main components of thestrategic partne rship."India is among
Vietnam's top tentrading partners with two-way tradereaching S3.94
billion in 20 12. The twoleaders set the target of boosting this to
$7billion by 2015 and $ 15 billion by 2020.A new Joint
Sub-Committee on Trade wasestablished to attain these goals.
Indianinvestment in Vietnam is more modest.
In June 20 13, lndia funded 74 projects inVietnam with a total
registered capital ofS252.2 million.Two major economic documents
weresigned during Secretary General Trong 'svisit. The first was an
o l,l between theViet Nam Oil and Gas Group and ONGCVidesh Limited
(OVL) under whichVietnam offered OVL five offshore oiland gas
explorations areas in the SouthChina Sea (Blocks 10&II -I, 17
41 43and 102& J06/ 10) and its Kossor block inUzbekistan. OVL
will assess each blockwith the option of taking any. all or none
ofthe blocks. lf OVL proceeds, a productionsharing contract will be
signed.The second agreement was an MoUbetween the Vietnam's
Ministry of Industryand Trade and Tara Power Ltd on thedevelopment
of the 1,320 MW Long Phu2 Thcnn al Power Project in Soc
Trangprovince. Valued at S1.8 billion, this wouldbe India 's
biggest investment in Vietnamand, according to Vietnam's
ForeignMinister Pham Binh Minh, would takeIndi a from fortieth to
twelfth largest foreigninvesto r in Vietnam.f ive other major
cooperation documentswere signed at this time indicating that
theother pillars of thc strategic partnershipwere not being
neglected. These included:an MoU between two M inistries offinance;
an Air Service Agreement; anMoU on the establishment of the
IndiraGandhi Hi-tech Crime Lab in Hanoi; acooperation agreement
between HanoiNational University and the Indian Councilfor
Scientific and Industrial Research.andan Mol.Ion cooperation
between the IndiaInstitute of Management in Bangalore andthe Ho Chi
Minh Nat ional Academy ofPublic Admin istration in Hanoi.Secretary
General Trongs Nove mbervisit to India demonstrates the
growingconvergence in strategic interestsbetween India and Vietnam
that willgrow in breadth and depth in the comingdecades. The "China
factor" is a keymotivation for both sides to cooperatein regional
and other mul tinationalforums and to strengthen cooperationin the
defence and secur ity. India and
The India-Vietnamstrategic partnership sbased on five
pillars:political defence andsecurity cooperation;economic and
commercialengagement and closertrade and investment;science and
technologycooperation cultural andtechnical cooperation;
andcooperation at multilateraland regional forumsVietnam are
natural partners given theirfamiliarity with Sov iet/Russian
militaryequipm ent, technology and platforms. Infuture .defence
ties will deepen and there islikely to be growing cooperation betw
eennational defence industries.China's rise and assertiveness
posesimilar but not congruent challenges forboth India and Vietnam.
Vietnam hasemerged as an import ant strategic actorin Southeast
Asia. India is emerging asan increasingly important strategic
playerin East Asia. Both India and Vietnamseek to engage with China
politically andeconomically,while seeking to maintaintheir autonomy
in a multi-polar world.Secretary General Trongs visit
alsohighlights the growing salience of economicrelations including
trade and investment.As the MoU with Tata Power indicates,India is
likely to become more involvedin developing Vietnam 's energy
sectoron a sustained basis. India has long beeninvolved in
developing Vietnam's oil andgas sector and this commitment is set
toexpand in the future. But India will not bedrawn into developing
oil and gas blocks inareas contested by China.
Carlyl e , 1 Thayer IS Emeruus The l:"i ""r. ity ofNew
Soutt:""lies t l tlu: us tralian Defe nce Fore cademy lind DII'Ccwr
ofTlusyerCO I1.IUl lUII C.I' which provides po litical anu lvsis
and research supp ort 011current regional secu rity 1\'SUC i
EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY DIPLOMATIST . January 2014
