India gifts INS Kirpan to Vietnam as defence ministers hold bilateral talks in New Delhi

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today held bilateral talks with Minister of National Defence of Vietnam General Phan Van Giang in New Delhi. Mr Singh also annnounced gifting of INS Kirpan to Vietnam.

He and his Vietnamese counterpart exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. The talks were held to further boost the defence cooperation between India and Vietnam.

Both Ministers identified means to enhance existing areas of collaboration, especially in the field of defence industry cooperation, maritime security and multinational cooperation.

The Defence Minister also announced the gifting of indigenously-built in-service Missile Corvette INS Kirpan which will be a milestone in enhancing the capabilities of Vietnam People's Navy.

As part of his engagements, the Defence Minister of Vietnam also visited DRDO headquarters and discussed ways to enhance defence industrial capabilities by cooperation in defence research and joint production.

Earlier in the day, the Vietnamese Minister of National Defence laid a wreath and paid homage to the Bravehearts at National War Memorial in New Delhi. Before the talks, Mr Giang inspected the Tri-Services' Guard of Honour.

The Vietnamese Minister of National Defence arrived in New Delhi yesterday on a two days official visit.  The Minister of National Defence of Vietnam is also scheduled to visit Agra during his stay in India.

India and Vietnam share a comprehensive strategic partnership and bilateral defence relations are a strong pillar of this partnership. Defence engagements between the two nations have diversified to include wide-ranging contacts between the services, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity building, training programmes, cooperation in UN Peacekeeping and bilateral exercises.

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