India, Vietnam Reiterate Importance of Peaceful Indo-Pacific

Hanoi: India and Vietnam reiterated the importance of building a peaceful Indo-Pacific region during a meeting between President Ram Nath Kovind and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Phu Trong here on Tuesday. The two sides also signed three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in the fields of communications, education and trade and investment. “Our discussions covered the full range of bilateral and multilateral cooperation,” Kovind said in an address to the media following the meeting. “We reiterated the importance of building a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region on the basis of respect for national sovereignty and international law,” he said.

Vietnam is a key partner of India in Southeast Asia and the bilateral relationship was elevated to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in 2016. New Delhi has been stressing on the centrality of Asean’s role in ensuring stability in the Indo-Pacific region. India is also part of a quad, also comprising the US, Japan and Australia, that was revived last year to work for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, a region that stretches from the east coast of Japan to the east coast of Africa. (IANS)

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