India to enhance engagement with Vietnam on security issues

India's extension of a USD 100 million line of credit to Vietnam for defence purchases will open new opportunities in military cooperation with the strategic Southeast Asian country, officials said today.
"The signing of the MoU (on defence procurement) is an important development in enhancing Vietnam's security and enabling the country to look more closely at India," Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Anil Wadhwa said while briefing reporters after President Pranab Mukherjee held talks with the Vietnamese leadership.
The MoU for providing USD 100 million concessional Line of Credit to Vietnam was signed in the presence of Mukherjee and his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang.

The joint communique issued after delegation-level talks between the two countries called this deal as one which would "open new opportunities in defence cooperation".
Wadhwa said while the final list would be drawn once the defence ministers of both the countries sit together, Vietnam has expressed its desire to procure patrol vessels being built indigenously in India.
He said a Letter of Intent (LoI) signed between ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) was inked for exploring oil resources in two blocks offered by Vietnam.

"Vietnam said it was their pleasure to offer us these two blocks. The concerned officials will be analysing this further," Wadhwa said.

Elaborating on the President's speech during a public event here in which he talked about connecting Kolkata to Hanoi, the Secretary said the project is aimed to create a trilateral highway from India to Laos, Cambodia and the national capital of Hanoi.
Wadhwa also said the President told the Vietnamese leadership that the new Indian government wants to work "closely" with them and take the historic ties "forward".
Talking about a big Indian investment, he said Tatapower would be constructing two 660 Megwatt thermal power plants in south Vietnam with an investment of USD 1.8 billion to further strengthen economic ties.

Wadhwa said there was a discussion about the South China Sea during the delegation-level talks that were held in the Presidential Palace and the Indian stand was that there is a need for "collective commitment of the concerned parties to abide by and implement the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and to work towards the adoption of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea on the basis of consensus."
He said both sides reiterated their commitment to confidence building measures.