VietNamNet Bridge – The visit to India and Sri Lanka of President Truong Tan Sang last week (Octobeer 11-15) has opened a new chapter in the relations between Vietnam and the two South Asian countries, with numerous documents signed.
2012 – Indian Year in Vietnam

A 21 gun salute was fired at the Presidential Palace in New Dehli in the morning of October 12. Both Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the welcome ceremony of Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang.

President Sang spoke shortly: “I take the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation to India this time to continue strengthening unity, traditional friendship and strategic partnership between the two countries. I believe that the visit will be a success and will deepen our good relations.”

Sang and Indian leaders agreed that developing the Vietnam-India ties as a priority in each country’s foreign policy, as important factor to ensure peace and stability in the region.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Indian President Pratibha Patil stressed: “Vietnam is a significant pillar in India’s “Look East” policy. India commits to build closer ties with Vietnam both bilaterally and multilaterally.”

Six documents were signed during Sang’s visit, including the Treaty on Extradition, Memorandum of Understanding on the Vietnam-India Friendship Year 2012, the agreement between Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) and ONGC Videsh Limited (ONGC-VL), Work Plan for the years 2011-2013 in the field of Agricultural and Fishery Research and Education, Cultural Exchange Program for the years 2011-2014, Protocol on Cultural Cooperation.

The two sides agreed to further deepen the strategic partnership, by adding more concrete programs and projects and broadening it to new areas for cooperation, taking into account the changing political and economic situation both at regional and international levels.

Both sides agreed to continue strengthening cooperation in the areas of politics, economy, trade and investment, finance, science and technology, human resource development, culture, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture etc., while striving to expand cooperation into other potential areas such as high-tech science and technology, justice, public health, information and communication, tourism, sports, press, and other areas of mutual interest.

The two countries agreed to step up trade and investment linkages, inter-alia by encouraging cooperation between the private sectors. They set a target of US$7 billion in bilateral trade by 2015.

The two sides welcomed the further strengthening of cooperation in the fields of defense and security.

The two sides stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability and of ensuring the safety, security and freedom of navigation in the high seas. They agreed that disputes in the East Sea should be settled through peaceful negotiations, without resorting to the threat or use of force by the parties concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea.

Both sides agreed to step up cooperation in the field of capacity building, technical assistance and information sharing between their respective relevant agencies for ensuring security of sea-lanes, including combating piracy, preventing pollution, conducting search and rescue, etc. on sea.

2012 will be a landmark in Vietnam-India ties because it will be the “Vietnam - India Friendship Year” to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the full diplomatic relation (07/01/1972 - 07/01/2012) and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership (06/07/2007 - 06/07/2012). The Indian side would also organize the “Year of India in Vietnam” in 2012 with a series of cultural events including performing arts, film festivals, and other events in various cities across Vietnam.

Sri Lanka
After the trip to India, President Sang paid a visit to Sri Lanka, an island country with 1,340km of coast. Like India, Sri Lanka has traditional friendship relations with Vietnam in the past 40 years.

President Sang and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to strengthen cooperation based on sharing and harmonizing common interests and concerns.

The two countries signed seven agreements, including: memoranda of understanding on bilateral political consultations, machinery manufacturing, investment promotion, cooperation in education, finance, defense and oil and gas, and an oil and gas sale contract.

They agreed on some common goals: two-way trade to reach $1 billion in coming years, preparing to sign an air service agreement in order to explore cooperation potentials in tourism and to promote people-to-people exchange, developing energy cooperation.

On this occasion, Sri Lanka recognized Vietnam as a complete market economy and expressed its support to Vietnam’s running for the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013-2016 term.

As the Vietnam, Sri Lanka issue joint communiqué stated, President Sang’s visit to Sri Lanka is an evidence for the wonderful relations between the two countries.

Linh Thu