Outgoing Vietnam envoy Pham Sanh Chau emphasises on strong defense ties with India

The outgoingAmbassador of Vietnam, Pham Sanh Chau, has said that defence now is "one of the most important pillars" of ties with India which "reflects a very high level of mutual strategic trust". The comments come even as defense engagement has seen many fold increase, including high level exchanges.

Remember earlier this year, during the visit of Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, India handed over 12 high speed guard boats to the country. The boats were constructed under the Indian Government's $100 million defense line of credit to Vietnam. The initial five boats were built in the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shipyard in India and the other seven in Hong Ha shipyard.

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Speaking exclusively to WION in one of his last interviews, Ambassador Pham said, "We see engagement in defense cooperation especially in Defense production.We are going into the final stage of the 500 million credit line for equipment in defense. Relationship ranges from training to equipment purchase, to equipment production, to geopolitics, to sharing information."

During Defence Minister's visit, both sides had inked ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ to enhance defence cooperation. Development comes, even as neighboring Philippines has agreed to buy Brahmos missile from India and interest has been seen from other ASEAN member countries as well.

Asked about the state of the relationship, the ambassador explained, "In the past 4 years, bilateral relations between India and Vietnam have reached a new height in all the areas. We have very frequencies of high-ranking delegations' exchange. We have very good economic relations, with trade reaching 15 billion USD, and a number of big investments in both countries in 2 ways."

Even as political ties have seen firming up, to increase people to people relation17 direct flights today run between 6 cities of India and 4 cities of Vietnam. Asked about his memories of India, the Ambassador said, "the fondest memory for me it's the people itself. India is very generous, Indians treat guest as God, I see this is true. Wherever I travel, I get warm hospitality. Therefore, In India I like travelling. I tried to cover all the states. "

On India's role in the world, the ambassador highlighted that, "India role is growing tremendously high in the world, and everyone wants to come to make case. India is not only growing int terms of economic weight, but political weight, and importantly cultural weight." In response to a question on Russia-Ukraine conflict and its impact, he said, "there is hike in price of food and energy. We are living in a world with a lot of turbulence, so we are trying to do our part. India is doing its part, to make sure this world is less hit by all these conflicts. Vietnam and India stand for peace"