India and Vietnam discuss defence ties, emphasise maintaining regional stability

India and Vietnam Strengthen Bilateral Ties on Regional Security

Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and Vietnam Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Truong Thang held a meeting on Sunday to discuss advancing regional security and deepening the bilateral 'Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' between India and Vietnam. The two countries reaffirmed their shared commitment to expanding maritime and defence ties, ensuring a peaceful, stable, and rule-based regional security architecture.

This meeting follows a high-level discussion between the prime ministers of both countries at the BRICS Summit.

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Accelerating Joint Initiatives and Defence Industrial Collaboration

The Ministry of Defence stated that the discussions centred on accelerating joint initiatives, technology sharing, and defence industrial collaboration. India and Vietnam strongly emphasised the value of close coordination in multilateral fora to address complex security dynamics.

The two sides agreed that collaborative platforms like the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) construct are vital for maintaining regional stability and building collective security architectures in the Indo-Pacific. They also reaffirmed their joint commitment to enhancing practical defence cooperation through ASEAN-led mechanisms.

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Deepening Defence Cooperation with Aero India 2027

The two sides agreed on the scheduled conduct of the next Defence Policy Dialogue. Set to be hosted in India on the sidelines of Aero India 2027. Over the last few years, the defence cooperation between India and Vietnam has deepened substantially. This includes Defence Policy Dialogues, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity building and training programmes, cooperation in UN Peacekeeping, ship visits, and bilateral exercises.

This development is significant as it comes amid growing Chinese influence in the South China Sea. This has led to territorial disputes with Vietnam. In May this year, India signed a deal with Vietnam for the supply of BrahMos missiles, and is in the "final stages" of inking a similar deal with Indonesia.