NEW DELHI: India and Vietnam on Wednesday agreed to establish a 2+2 ministerial dialogue and moved closer towards concluding the BrahMos missile deal, while expanding defence industrial cooperation and bringing Hanoi into the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
The decisions, announced during President Lam’s visit, come amid growing strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific and continuing tensions in the South China Sea.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Gen Phan Van Giang, during which both sides reviewed ongoing defence cooperation and expressed satisfaction over progress in high-level exchanges, training programmes and capacity-building initiatives. Both sides also acknowledged a “growing convergence in strategic interests, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The joint statement released after the talks said the two sides “look forward to the establishment of Strategic Diplomacy-Defence Dialogue (2+2)” to further deepen bilateral strategic and security cooperation. The 2+2 format, which brings together foreign and defence ministers, is one India has so far instituted with a select group of partners, with the United States, Japan, Australia and Russia among them.
Describing defence and security cooperation as a “key pillar” of the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the statement also pointed to deeper defence industrial ambitions, with both sides agreeing to “enhance defence systems procurement between the two countries,” language that indicates potential Indian military exports to Vietnam in the years ahead.
On the proposed BrahMos missile sale, Secretary (East) Periasamy Kumaran offered the clearest official signal yet that the deal was moving forward. “We do talk about a number of platforms, BrahMos is one of them… watch this space,” he told reporters at a media briefing.
Vietnam has sought the shore-based anti-ship variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to strengthen its coastal defence posture in the South China Sea, where it is engaged in long-running territorial disputes with China. The deal, estimated at around Rs 5,800 crore, is learnt to be in advanced stages.
Kumaran also confirmed that Vietnam was studying India’s proposal for MRO support for its Russian-origin Su-30 fighter aircraft and Kilo-class submarines, platforms for which India already provides training.
Both sides agreed to expand cooperation across joint military exercises, staff talks, defence policy dialogue, maritime security, hydrography, information sharing, search-and-rescue operations and joint research and co-production of defence technologies. Vietnam will also participate in the Indian Army’s maiden multilateral exercise PRAGATI later this month in Meghalaya, which will host contingents from around a dozen countries under India’s Act East outreach.
Vietnam’s entry into the IPOI, a maritime cooperation framework India launched in 2019 to promote a rules-based order and sustainable use of marine resources, further integrates Hanoi into India’s Indo-Pacific architecture.
Both countries also agreed to expand cooperation in cybersecurity, counter-terrorism and combating transnational crime, and will co-chair the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Cyber Security for the 2027–2030 cycle.