India and Vietnam have forged a close strategic partnership in recent years. In 2016, bilateral ties were raised to the level of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Vietnam

NEW DELHI: Vietnam is pushing for a visit to India by its Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to persons aware of the matter.

India and Vietnam have forged a close strategic partnership in recent years. In 2016, bilateral ties were raised to the level of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’ during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Vietnam.

The proposed visit will be part of a trend of deeper political engagement between the two countries. Besides Modi, former President Ramnath Kovind, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh have visited Vietnam.

India provided Vietnam a $100 million line of credit for military purchases, under which it bought high-speed patrol boats from India.

Should the visit materialise, the finalisation of a $500 million credit line for more defence purchases, discussed during Singh’s visit, may be on the agenda.

“India and Vietnam continue to have the most trustworthy relations in contemporary times with broader convergence of interests and common concerns. Bilateral defence engagements have expanded over a period of time to include wide-ranging contacts between the two countries, including Defence Policy Dialogues, military to military exchanges, high level visits, capacity building and training programs, cooperation in UN Peace keeping, ship visits and bilateral exercises," reads a joint vision statement on defence released after Singh’s visit to Vietnam in June 2022.

“These ties assume additional significance in the backdrop of India’s two-year-long Ladakh border stand-off with China, and Beijing’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea that directly impact Vietnamese security," writes Sameer Patil for the Observer Research Foundation, a think-tank.

“Hanoi is keen to engage New Delhi to counterbalance the growing Chinese belligerence in the region and offset the ‘push and pull’ dynamics of its engagement with Russia and the US."

New Delhi and Hanoi have increasingly made common cause over their shared suspicion of China.

Trade between the two countries crossed 15 billion in 2022. Mint had earlier reported that the two sides were in exploratory talks for a trade agreement.

“Bilateral trade between India and Vietnam has been gradually growing in the last few years and both countries agreed to explore substantive and practical measures to achieve the trade target of $15 billion at the earliest. The total merchandize trade between India and Vietnam was $10.68 billion in 2018 and $ 11.21 billion in 2019," according to the Indian Embassy in Vietnam.

Indian exports to Vietnam include iron and steel, electric machinery, cotton and cereals. Vietnam exports electric and electronic equipment, machines and mechanical appliances, inorganic chemicals and plastic articles among other things.