State President Truong Tan Sang met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following an official welcoming ceremony held at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi on Oct. 12.

The two leaders expressed their delight at the traditional friendship, all-round cooperation and strategic partnership between Vietnam and India which were nurtured by the late PM Jawaharlal Neru and the late President Ho Chi Minh and fostered by the two countries’ leaders and people.

Both host and guest emphasised that developing the two countries’ relations is a top priority in each country’s foreign policy and an important factor in ensuring regional peace and stability.

The two sides agreed to further promote the visits of high-ranking and all-level delegations, and expand the contents of the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership, on the main pillars of cooperation in politics, defence, security, economics, culture and human resource training.

The two leaders spoke highly of the multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and India and agreed to accelerate cooperation in economics, trade, investment, finance, science and technology, culture and expand cooperation in other potential fields.

They agreed to raise two-way trade value to 7 billion USD in 2015.

On regional and international issues, the two leaders agreed to further promote the fine cooperation and coordination at the ASEAN-India forum, the Ganga-Mekong forum, the East Asia Summit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Both leaders emphasised the importance of maintaining peace, stability and ensuring maritime safety, security and freedom in the East Sea.

They also agreed that disputes in the East Sea need to be settled through peaceful negotiations based on international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

After the meeting, President Sang and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  witnessed the signing of six cooperative agreements.

The same day, President Sang met with Indian President Pratibha Patil who described President Sang’s visit as a vivid symbol of the traditional relations between India and Vietnam, especially this is the first visit to a country outside ASEAN since the President took office.

President Pratibha Patil expressed her joy at fast developments of Vietnam’s renewal process, bringing prosperity to the Vietnamese people and hoped that Vietnam will continue cooperating and assisting India in boosting the India-ASEAN relations.

Vietnam supports India to become a permanent member of the expanded United Nations Security Council and its efforts to connect with ASEAN, President Sang affirmed.

He proposed the Indian Government increase its assistance to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam (CLMV) as well as speed up development projects in the sub-region and boost the Ganga-Mekong sub-regional cooperation.

The two leaders agreed on efforts to develop the strategic partnership for the benefits of the two peoples and for peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world.

Earlier, Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna paid a courtesy visit to the Vietnamese President. President Sang thanked the Indian Government and people for their warm welcome and spoke highly of the efforts of Krishna and the Indian Foreign Ministry in assisting the delegation’s visit and the two countries’ relationship.

President Sang expressed his joy at the results of the fifth political consultation meeting, the second strategic dialogue and the 14^th Joint Commission recently held by the two foreign ministries in Hanoi.

Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna expressed his belief in the success of President Sang’s visit, laying a firm foundation for promoting the two countries’ cooperation and bringing the strategic partnership to a new height.

He affirmed that the two foreign ministries will further increase the exchange of experiences in settling important issues relating to regional and international situation through visits and cooperative mechanisms between the two ministries and specific diplomatic activities, including two embassies, for peace and stability in the region and the world./.