Construction of patrol boats among 12 India-Vietnam agreements signed

Hanoi, Sep 3: From health to defence, India and Vietnam on Saturday signed 12 agreements following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc here.

"12 for togetherness! India & Vietnam sign a dozen agreements for further strengthening the Strategic Partnership," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

One agreement was signed with L&T for utilising $100 million of the $500 million defence line of credit India offered to Vietnam to build patrol boats.

MoUs were signed for cooperation in the field of health, mutual recognition of standards, cooperation between the Vietnamese Academy of Social Science and the Indian Council for World Affairs, cooperation in the field of cyber security, and cooperation in information technology.

An agreement was signed on cooperation in exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.

Another agreement was signed on sharing of white shipping information while another called for setting up a sustainable IT infrastructure for advanced IT training. 

One agreement on cooperation in UN peace keeping operations. 

Agreements were also signed on double taxation avoidance and celebrating 2017 as the "Year of Friendship" to mark 45 years of India-Vietnam diplomatic ties.

Modi arrived here on Friday ahead of his visit to China to attend the G-20 Summit to be held on September 4-5.

This is the first bilateral prime ministerial visit from India to Vietnam in 15 years since the visit of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.