On May 6, following the State welcome ceremony jointly hosted by President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi with the highest protocol accorded to a Head of State, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee, President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam To Lam held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly welcomed General Secretary, President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation on their State Visit to India, and congratulated him on being elected President by the 16th National Assembly of Viet Nam. Prime Minister Modi particularly emphasized that General Secretary, President To Lam’s visit to India, taking place immediately after the great success of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the completion of the appointment of the State leadership positions in Viet Nam, carries historic significance, especially as the two countries commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Viet Nam–India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2016–2026).
Expressing sincere appreciation for the warm, respectful, and friendly reception extended by President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government, and the people of India to himself and the high-level Vietnamese delegation, General Secretary, President To Lam affirmed that Viet Nam always attaches great importance to and wishes to continuously strengthen the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with India, considering it one of the top priorities in Viet Nam’s independent, self-reliant, diversified, and multilateral foreign policy in the new era.
General Secretary, President To Lam congratulated India on its remarkable development achievements and highly appreciated the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has helped India become the world’s fourth-largest economy and one of the leading centers of science and technology. He expressed confidence that India would successfully realize its goal of becoming a developed country by 2047 with an increasingly important international role and standing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized that India always regards Viet Nam as one of the most important partners in its Act East Policy and expressed confidence that Viet Nam would successfully achieve its goals of becoming a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income status by 2030, and a developed, high-income country by 2045. He stressed that the two countries share common values, visions, and aspirations regarding independence, self-reliance, and a rules-based international order founded on international law, providing a strong foundation for the two countries to accompany and support each other while contributing positively to peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.
On this occasion, the two leaders expressed satisfaction at the remarkable progress achieved across multiple areas of cooperation since the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 10 years ago. Political trust has been increasingly strengthened; defense and security cooperation has deepened and become a strategic pillar; economic, trade, and investment cooperation has continued to grow, with bilateral trade increasing annually to reach more than USD 16.4 billion in 2025; while cultural exchanges and people-to-people connectivity remain bright spots, with more tourists from each country choosing the other as a destination thanks to nearly 90 direct flights connecting the two nations.
General Secretary, President To Lam emphasized that the two countries still possess enormous potential and advantages to further expand cooperation for the practical benefit of both peoples and business communities, and proposed that both sides continue creating favorable conditions for businesses to expand their presence in each other’s markets. On that basis, the two sides agreed to elevate bilateral relations to an “Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” under the spirit of “Shared Vision, Strategic Convergence, and Substantive Cooperation,” opening a new phase in bilateral relations.
To concretize the Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the two leaders exchanged candid views and agreed on strategic orientations to further deepen cooperation across all areas. The two sides affirmed the importance of strongly strengthening political trust based on shared vision as the core foundation guiding bilateral relations. They agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and regular contacts, while further enhancing the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including the Viet Nam–India Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation.
The two sides emphasized the important pillar role of defense and security cooperation and affirmed their commitment to expanding cooperation in defense industry, security industry, maritime security, cybersecurity, information sharing, and counterterrorism. India also pledged to continue supporting Viet Nam in defense and security training and capacity building.
In economic, trade, and investment cooperation, the two leaders agreed to create breakthroughs and enhance complementarities based on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, particularly in strengthening supply chain and global value chain linkages. The two sides aim to achieve bilateral trade of USD 25 billion by 2030 in a balanced and sustainable manner and agreed to remove trade barriers to facilitate access for each other’s goods into their respective markets.
General Secretary, President To Lam affirmed that Viet Nam stands ready to increase imports from India to diversify production inputs, while proposing that India gradually remove regulations related to standards set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for Vietnamese products. Both sides encouraged high-quality two-way investment and agreed to create favorable conditions for major corporations from each country to invest in large-scale, symbolic projects in sectors such as infrastructure, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and high technology.
General Secretary, President To Lam and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed to make science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation key drivers of the new phase of bilateral relations. The two sides agreed to expand and promote cooperation in core technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, information technology, 6G, healthcare, cooperation in the exploration and processing of critical minerals, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. They also agreed to promote the development of cooperation ecosystems among technology enterprises of the two countries, with a view toward establishing joint ventures, research and development centers, and joint innovation centers.
The two sides also agreed to strengthen the social foundation of bilateral relations through enhanced cultural cooperation, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges; promote shared cultural, historical, and religious values; and strengthen aviation connectivity, logistics cooperation, and cooperation between localities and economic and technological centers of the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted that many Vietnamese pilgrims visit India annually and expressed hope that the two sides would further strengthen tourism cooperation in the future, while encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to expand investment in India’s tourism sector.
Regarding regional and international issues, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and ASEAN-led mechanisms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi highly appreciated ASEAN centrality. Both sides also emphasized the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight, and resolving disputes through peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).
Following the talks, General Secretary, President To Lam and Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the signing and exchange of numerous cooperation documents in the fields of science and technology, critical minerals, healthcare, tourism and culture, finance, cybersecurity, local cooperation, and auditing. The two leaders agreed to direct ministries and agencies to promptly and effectively implement the agreements reached, ushering Viet Nam–India relations into a new stage of development.
Both sides expressed confidence that, with the shared determination of the leaders and peoples of the two countries, Viet Nam–India relations will continue to develop strongly, deeply, substantively, and effectively, serving the interests of both peoples and contributing positively to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
On this occasion, General Secretary, President To Lam conveyed greetings from the leaders of the Party and State of Viet Nam to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian leaders, and respectfully invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Viet Nam in the near future. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gladly accepted the invitation.
Source: Bao Chinh Phu Online; Photos: Vietnam News Agency (VNA)
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