India, Vietnam to work jointly for free, open Indo-Pacific
2018-03-04 09:56:54 source：Indian Express
March 4, 2018
India and Vietnam on Saturday decided to deepen defence and security cooperation, even as they resolved jointly for a free and open Indo-Pacific based on rules-based regional security architecture. This comes in the wake of increasing assertiveness by China in the region, from South China Sea to the South Asian region.
This was decided after the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the visiting Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang on Saturday. Vietnam is one of the key neighbours of China, and has resisted Chinese claims in South China Sea.
“One of the pillars in our strong relationship is defence and security cooperation,” Modi said, after the talks. “We already have strong ties between all branches of our armed forces. Now we have decided to strengthen our cooperation in the field of defence production. We will explore possibilities of co-production and transfer of technology in the defence sector.”
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