Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (L) pays courtesy call on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New Delhi, India, June 17, 2022 - Photo: VNA

The meeting was held on the occasion of the Vietnamese diplomat's visit to the India to attend the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting (SAIFMM).

Bui expressed thanks to the invaluable assistance of India for Viet Nam in the COVID-19 fight.

He invited the Indian FM to visit Viet Nam and co-chair the 18th meeting of the India-Viet Nam Joint Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, which is scheduled to take place in Viet Nam in the second half of 2022.

He suggested India facilitate import of Viet Nam's farm products including rambutan, longan and durian, and encourage more Indian firms to invest in innovation, high technology, IT and pharmacy in Viet Nam.

For his part, S. Jaishankar asserted India will continue close coordination with Viet Nam to effectively organize activities to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties.

India regards Viet Nam as a crucial pillar in its Act East policy, committing to accelerate the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two nations in the upcoming time, he underscored.

Both sides agreed to foster collaboration in such sectors as culture, people-to-people exchanges, science-technology, energy, education and training and to handle obstacles in launching cooperative projects.

Regarding international and regional issues of mutual concerns, they vowed to continue close coordination and mutual support at international and regional forums, particularly at the UN and within ASEAN-India cooperation framework.

They emphasized the necessity of maintaining security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation over seas and oceans in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

After the meeting, the two foreign ministers witnessed the exchange of memorandum of understanding on cooperation in cyber information security between Viet Nam's Information Security Department and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team.