Transcript of Special Briefing by MEA on the State Visit of General Secretary, President of Vietnam to India

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this special press briefing by Secretary (East), Shri P. Kumaran, on the ongoing State Visit of the President of Vietnam. For this briefing, we are also joined by Shri Prashant Agrawal, Additional Secretary, who looks after countries in the Southeast Asia region, as also our Ambassador to Vietnam, Shri Tshering Sherpa. With that, first I invite Secretary (East) to make his opening remarks on the developments that have happened on this visit so far.

Shri P. Kumaran, Secretary (East): Thank you, Randhir. Good afternoon, dear friends. Let me try and give you a broad readout of the visit. At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, His Excellency Mr. To Lam, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is on a State Visit to India.

The visit started yesterday, 5th of May, and will conclude tomorrow, 7th of May. This is President To Lam's first State Visit to India and comes within a month of his assuming the presidency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 7th April 2026. He has previously visited India in April 2023 in his then role as the Minister of Public Security.

President To Lam is accompanied by a high-level ministerial and official delegation, as well as a large business delegation. This is the second meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President To Lam. They had earlier met in New York on the sidelines of the Summit of the Future at the UNGA in September 2024. President To Lam's visit to India began in Bodh Gaya yesterday in the afternoon when he visited the Mahabodhi Temple. He also visited the Vietnam Temple there. He arrived in New Delhi last evening and this morning he was given a ceremonial welcome in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Subsequently, President To Lam paid his respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat. He then also visited the statue of Ho Chi Minh to pay tribute. Prime Minister Modi and President To Lam held wide-ranging and substantive discussions at Hyderabad House today on several bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest. The talks were held in both restricted and delegation-level formats.

The meeting provided both the leaders an opportunity to review progress across key pillars of our relationship and lay out an ambitious agenda for the future. This year, India and Vietnam are also marking the 10th anniversary of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Both sides agreed that bilateral ties have expanded and deepened significantly in the last 10 years. As a result, it was decided to upgrade our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and a Joint Statement to mark this was released.

The leaders also held interactions with key stakeholders, including business leaders and CEOs, over a banquet lunch hosted by Prime Minister Modi this afternoon. During the discussions, both sides appreciated the growing trade and investment flows between India and Vietnam and noted the potential to increase these further in a balanced and mutually beneficial manner. We agreed that a new trade target of $25 billion would be set for achieving by 2030.

We have also taken important steps in the agriculture sector. Soon, our farmers will be able to access the Vietnam market for Indian grapes, and similarly, Vietnam would be able to export Vietnamese durian to India. We have also agreed to advance collaboration in the areas such as energy, rare earth minerals, digital payments, traditional medicine, and mobility, among others.

Insofar as deliverables are concerned, several MOUs were agreed upon and exchanged in diverse areas pertaining to financial innovation, cross-border digital payments, cultural cooperation, rare earth minerals, oceanography, pharmaceuticals, education, and sister city agreement between Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City. The MOU between RBI and State Bank of Vietnam will be an important collaboration project in fintech. The MOU on cooperation in rare earth minerals underscores the importance both sides attach to supply chain resilience and diversification. India also thanked Vietnam for its invitation to participate in Vietnam's nuclear power sector.

The cross-border connectivity of digital payments will greatly benefit tourists and businesses. The MOU between CDSCO and Drug Administration of Vietnam will facilitate market access for our pharmaceutical companies and help ensure access to affordable and quality Indian medical products for the people of Vietnam. India and Vietnam have long-standing bonds of friendship underpinned by historical, civilizational, and cultural connect.

The two sides agreed to renew the cultural exchange program for 2026-2030. We have reaffirmed our commitment to continue India's conservation and restoration efforts in Vietnam. India will extend support to establish a site interpretation center at the UNESCO World Heritage Site at My Son in Vietnam.

The two sides also agreed to establish ICCR chairs at Da Nang University and University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Vietnam. Nalanda University is also deepening collaboration with Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics. Our audit institutions have agreed to cooperate in the field of public sector audit.

Defense cooperation was acknowledged as a key pillar of our bilateral relationship. Both sides agreed to further strengthen defense industry cooperation. We are also exploring the establishment of a 2+2 dialogue mechanism between Foreign and Defense Ministries together on both sides to further deepen our strategic cooperation.

Prime Minister Modi and President To Lam acknowledged the growing threats of terrorism, transnational crime, money laundering, and online scams. President To Lam conveyed Vietnam's support on the issue of terrorism and counter-terror cooperation, and Prime Minister thanked Vietnam for their strong support on the Pahalgam attack.

There was convergence of views on several regional and global issues of interest to both sides, particularly in the Indo-Pacific and the importance of closer cooperation to promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and beyond, keeping in view the evolving global geopolitical and economic landscape. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate to strengthen the voice and role of the Global South. Prime Minister Modi appreciated Vietnam's continued support for India's permanent membership in a reformed UN Security Council. Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India's support for ASEAN centrality and ASEAN unity within the framework of India's Act East Policy. We are also happy to inform you that Vietnam has joined the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, IPOI, today.

Later today, President To Lam is scheduled to deliver a policy speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs. Thereafter, both sides are together organizing an innovation forum with the participation of businesses, think tanks, policy-makers in the field of technology and innovation.

Hon'ble Rashtrapati Ji will meet President To Lam in the evening and host a banquet dinner in his honor. President To Lam is scheduled to visit Mumbai tomorrow for interactions with the State Government there and also our businesses under the Vietnam-India Business Forum. President To Lam invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Vietnam again. Prime Minister Modi accepted the invitation in principle and said suitable dates can be worked out through diplomatic channels.

Overall, the engagement between the two leaders has infused new energy and momentum to India-Vietnam relations. The outcomes today as summarized in the Joint Statement reflect the scope and scale of our new ambition. Thank you very much.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we open the floor for some questions.

Huma Siddiqui, StratNewsGlobal: Sir, I'm Huma Siddiqui with the StratNewsGlobal. You talked about the defense cooperation. So, was there any talk related to the BrahMos missile? Because that's something that Vietnam has been wanting. And the second, in the maritime cooperation, was there any discussion?

Sidhant, WION: Hi sir. Sidhant from WION. But I think everyone wants to ask about BrahMos, but my question is, since ma'am was already asked about BrahMos, is on rare earths. What's the plan like with Vietnam when it comes to going forward in that domain?

Keshav Padmanabhan, ThePrint: Thank you, Secretary. Keshav Padmanabhan from ThePrint. My first question is on this. In the joint statement you mention lines of credit for defense. Can you give us a sense of what has this lines of credit been achieved? Has there been any discussions on expansion, any figure with regards to this?

And the second question I have is on UNCLOS, because we know that Vietnam, you know, has certain issues in the South China Sea. So, was there any discussions with regards to UNCLOS? Did India raise its support for any of Vietnam's positions with regards to this? Thank you.

Abhimanyu Sharma, CNBC-TV18: Good evening, sir. Abhimanyu Sharma from CNBC-TV18. Sir, if you can shed some light on the kind of collaboration Vietnam is going to have with India on digital payments, particularly the usability of UPI outside India in Vietnam.

Neeraj, News18: Neeraj, News18 India se hoon sir. Aapne kaha ki Bhartiya kisanon ko fayda hoga aaj ke MOUs ke zariye ya pharmaceuticals ko bhi fayda hoga, Vietnam ka market Bharat ke liye khulega, uske bare mein thoda sa prakash dalein.

[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Sir, Neeraj from News18 India. You mentioned that Indian farmers and the pharmaceutical sector will benefit from today's MOUs, and that the Vietnamese market will open up for India. Could you please elaborate on this a bit?

Shri P. Kumaran, Secretary (East): Okay. I think the first one was about BrahMos. Let me try and provide a broader context for our defense cooperation. Our defense cooperation, the basis for that is the Joint Vision Statement for defense partnership 2030. So, there are a number of areas listed under that for taking forward our defense cooperation. It includes a number of areas from capacity building and training for Vietnamese Armed Forces, to cooperation in the area of UN peacekeeping, training exchanges, joint military exercises, port calls and ship visits. We've done a joint hydrographics survey together. Defense cooperation, a number of things have happened in the past and also maritime cooperation; maritime security cooperation is a very, very important area.

In addition to that, we have MOUs that are already operational in the areas of submarine rescue and HADR support, mutual logistics support, and of course cooperation in various aspects of defense industry. We are also looking at instituting a 2+2 dialogue which will include the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry on either side.

We're also pursuing an agreement on white shipping information sharing, cybersecurity, and also AI enhanced security measures. There is also an ongoing cooperation on transnational crime involving the Navies and the Coast Guards. We had a visit of the member companies of the Society of Indian Defense Manufacturers visiting Vietnam in March 2026 to explore opportunities for defense procurement by Vietnam to understand their needs and to see which of those needs can be met by our defense companies.

Prime Minister, in fact, offered help with maintenance and MRO support for platforms that Vietnam has such as the Sukhoi Su-30 and the Kilo-class submarines. So there's a whole lot of things happening in the area of defense. There is also the question of lines of credit.

In fact, during the Prime Minister's visit, we had announced lines of credit worth 500 million dollars. Out of which for 300 million dollars projects have been identified and tendering processes are going on for the procurement of 14 high-speed patrol boats and 3 to 4 OPVs depending on the cost at which they're tendered.

And 200 million dollars more will involve the next stage of LOCs. That could involve upgradation of some ships that belong to the Vietnam Navy and also purchase of submarine batteries. So these are all things that will come up in the second stage with the remaining 200 million dollars. So for LOCs, that is the status.

On BrahMos, you know, in this broad context, I want to broadly state that Vietnam is a very important partner for us in the Indo-Pacific and all these areas that we cooperate in are based on the broad premise that a strong Vietnam will serve the cause of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. We do talk about a number of platforms and the BrahMos platform is also one of them and you know, watch this space.

On maritime cooperation, I broadly gave you the areas of interest for us. LoCs of defense also, we just went over that.

On UNCLOS, let me just try and summarize our position. Our position on the South China Sea is nothing new. It is very well documented and we've said it over and over again. We uphold the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. And we support peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, in particular the 1982 UNCLOS, without resorting to the threat or use of force.

We would also like to see a code of conduct that is both substantive and effective. And we are also stipulating that it should not prejudice the legitimate rights and interests of nations that are not party to these code of conduct discussions and it should be fully consistent with international law and the UNCLOS 1982.

So, our cooperation between India and Vietnam on maritime security and on the safety and stability of the Indo-Pacific rests on the bedrock of our comprehensive strategic partnership and the fact that the level of mutual trust and respect between the two sides has been very strong and consistent. So broadly, that is our position on UNCLOS.

UPI and digital payments, we've signed an MOU. Our expectation is that given the large number of tourists who travel to Vietnam which is in the range of about 800,000 per year. That was the number of tourists we had last year and in fact our ambassador tells us that very soon we are going to hit the one million mark. Plus the Vietnamese tourists who come to Buddhist sites in India. So given the increase in connectivity with more and more direct flights coming on stream, it's possible that we will have larger numbers to deal with and to facilitate easier shopping and meeting other expenses, a direct connectivity between the payment systems would be helpful. And that is the logic that drives the connectivity between the payment systems.

Aapne poocha tha agriculture aur pharmaceutical cooperation ke liye. Isme ek baat hai market access jo trade negotiations ke tehat ho rahe hain, AITIGA review mein aur bilateral discussions mein bhi. Hamara ek main request raha hai Vietnamese side se ki hamare agricultural products hon, marine products hon, pharmaceutical products hon unke market access ko facilitate karna chahiye. Jaise ki aap jaante hain hamara jo bilateral trade hai kareeb 16 billion dollars hai jisme hamare exports hain 6 billion aur Vietnam ke exports 10 billion hain. Aur isme hamare pharmaceutical exports ke liye main request ye hai ki jo hamare drugs aur drug companies US FDA ya European Medical Authority EMA ke approvals prapt kar chuke hain, unke drugs ke approvals ko fast track karna chahiye. Wo hamara ek broad request hai ASEAN side se aur hamare ASEAN individual member state partners se bhi. Aur regulatory cooperation ke liye humne ek MOU bhi sign kiya hai jo aapko joint statement se mil jayega. Aur digital health aur advanced health stacks wagera ke baare mein bhi cooperation explore karne ke baare mein baat hui thi.

On agriculture, jaise ki main bol raha tha fruits ke liye discussions huye the. Vietnam ke do particular fruits hain jo unke priority hain: Durian aur Pomelo. Aur hamare do priorities hain Anaar, Pomegranate and Grapes. To Durian aur Grapes ke liye agreement ho gaye hain. Hopefully the other two also will be able to move forward. Broadly yahi tha hamare jo aapne areas raise kiye the, but I'll be happy to take more questions. Thank you.

[Approximate Translation: Answer in Hindi] You asked about agriculture, and pharmaceutical cooperation. One key aspect here is market access, which is being discussed under ongoing trade negotiations, including the AITIGA review and bilateral discussions. Our main request to the Vietnamese side has been to facilitate market access for our agricultural products, marine products, and pharmaceutical goods. As you may know, our bilateral trade is around $16 billion, with India exporting about $6 billion and Vietnam exporting about $10 billion. In the pharmaceutical sector, a major request from our side is that drugs manufactured by Indian companies that have already received approvals from the US FDA or the European Medicines Agency (EMA) should be fast-tracked for approval in Vietnam. This is a broader request not just to Vietnam but also to ASEAN countries and individual member states. To support regulatory cooperation, an MoU has been signed, as mentioned in the joint statement. There were also discussions on exploring cooperation in digital health and advanced health systems.

On agriculture, as I mentioned earlier, discussions were held regarding fruits. Vietnam has prioritized durian and pomelo, while India's priorities are pomegranate (anaar) and grapes. Agreements have been reached for durian and grapes, and hopefully, progress will also be made on the other two items soon. These broadly cover the areas you raised, and I'd be happy to take more questions. Thank you.

Rare earths, you know, aaj ke MOUs ke list mein dekhenge there is an MOU signed between VINATOM, the Vietnamese agency that regulates rare earth related matters and Indian Rare Earths Limited, IREL. The broad premise of cooperation is that Vietnam has a fair amount of rare earth minerals available in their territory and we want to try and see if we can work out some arrangement, a joint venture where we can collaborate with Vietnam. But before we do that, IREL wants to take a look at their samples.

So, Vietnam would be providing us with some samples which we will evaluate in India and then we would go there and undertake further investigations to see what kind of cooperative structure we want to develop between the two of us. If necessary, we will do a joint venture to not only extract the rare earth minerals but also to beneficiate them and process them further and to look at sharing the output in some way based on mutual agreement.

Kallol Bhattacherjee, The Hindu: Kallol Bhattacherjee from The Hindu, sir. Sir, as Vietnam and India intensify relations, can we ask this question? Is this relation aimed at any particular power in Asia, or rather Indo-Pacific region, or does this relation stand on its own?

Jugal, BBC: Jugal from the Collective Newsroom for the BBC. Just a small clarification. You mentioned Prime Minister spoke about MRO facilities for Sukhoi-30 and the submarine batteries. Could you just elaborate a bit on that? Is this something from this visit or you were mentioning something about the past agreements? Thank you.

Keshav Padmanabhan, ThePrint: Thank you again, Keshav Padmanabhan from ThePrint and thank you for the second question. I just wanted to delve into the AITIGA review because I know it's ten different countries. But from what we've read in the past, Indonesia and Vietnam are where the opening of tariff lines as agreed to has been sort of difficult. So, what was sort of discussed with President To Lam with regards to AITIGA so that this review can be conducted and concluded as fast as possible? Has there been any deadline that Vietnam is willing to support within the larger ASEAN framework for this? Thank you.

Abhimanyu Sharma, CNBC-TV18: Sir, regarding the AITIGA review, are we still open to the prospect of individual trade agreements with ASEAN partners or it's going to be a cohesive one with the entire bloc?

Shri P. Kumaran, Secretary (East): Maybe I'll change the order a little bit. Let's start with the last one first. AITIGA review status. You know, AITIGA review is discussed at a very broad level when it comes to Heads of State or Heads of Government. The discussion between the two leaders was limited to the extent that both sides supported early conclusion of the AITIGA review. They recognized the positive developments in the negotiations recently and noted that early completion of this review will help achieve the targets that we have set for our trade in the coming years, 2030 and beyond.

But let me also by way of background give you the status of negotiations between our working levels. We had broadly indicated that we wanted to achieve an overall tariff line liberalization of 80% of the lines. India has provided liberalization to an extent of close to 80% and we wanted the overall ASEAN tariff line liberalization also to reach that level.

Plus, also in addition to that, we had said each individual country should at least reach 70% liberalization. The reason is that there are multiple levels of development within ASEAN members. Some economies are extremely open like Singapore and others are not so open. So our contention was that it should not be the simple average of all the tariff line liberalizations, but it should be weighted by the size of the economy. That should be the comparison yardstick. So we, we seem to have arrived at some kind of an understanding. The details are being fleshed out as we speak, and hopefully in the coming months we should have greater clarity on the review getting completed.

On the question of MROs for Sukhoi-30 and Kilo-class submarines, the Prime Minister actually specifically offered to President To Lam during this visit, in today's discussions, our willingness to service these platforms saying that we have capacities to maintain these platforms, and it would be useful to try and see how we can cooperate in these areas. Perhaps we have spoken about this in other levels of discussions but today I can tell you that this was offered as a potential area of cooperation.

You know, we are talking about India-Vietnam relations. Your question about whether these are aimed at anyone. No. Let me try and say our Act East policy is broadly oriented towards achieving greater peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific on the basis of free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific with peaceful resolution of disputes and the other principles that I underlined in my opening remarks.

So, to that extent, all partners who are willing to work with us under various platforms, including the one that we lead, which is the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, which has seven pillars and there are about 23 members who join us to lead or co-lead various parts of these seven pillars.

Our broad expectation is that our trusted partners will work with us to enhance stability and security in the Indo-Pacific. And Vietnam is a country that we consider as a very, very key partner in the region, given the levels of trust we enjoy with them, given their own independent foreign policy, and the fact that we are very, very close partners in the Global South.

So, broadly these are the drivers of our relationship in terms of working to secure the Indo-Pacific and ensure stability.

Unidentified Speaker: (unclear audio)

Shri P. Kumaran, Secretary (East): No, President To Lam thanked us for the offer and said he will get the teams to study. So broadly that was the response.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, if there are no more questions, thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. Please do follow the visit. From here, President To Lam will be traveling to Mumbai where we have intensive business engagements lined up.

Thank you very much.

New Delhi
May 06, 2026