Embassy of India

Hanoi, Vietnam

Ambassador’s Remarks at the Defence ITEC Day
(December 11, 2019)

Let me begin by conveying my heartfelt congratulations to all of you on winning the football gold medal at the 30th South East Asian Games in Manila yesterday.  This is a historic win.  As friends of Vietnam, we are as excited and elated at this achievement as you are.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all today to celebrate our first Defence ITEC Day celebrations. This year we celebrate the 55th anniversary of our Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation or, what we call in short and more popularly, the ITEC programme.  Itis India’s flagship development cooperation initiative for capacity building and human resource development with partner countries.

Over the years, the ITEC programme has reached out to more than 200,000 beneficiaries in 160 friendly countries and is an important dimension of our foreign policy.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

With Vietnam, we have a long history of ITEC partnership.  As a country with whom we have closely shared our developmental experience as a modern nation, Vietnam is one of our premier partners in this programme.

Capacity building and training programme in the defence sector under the ITEC umbrella is one of our priority engagements with Vietnam. And that is why we are here to celebrate our Defence ITEC partnership.  I am particularly happy that many among those present here have been personally associated with this programme and benefitted from it. 

Defence Cooperation between our two countriesis one of the key pillars of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.  Our Ministries of Defence interact and cooperate at multiple levels.  Cooperation in training is a major part of this engagement and covers all three services of our defence forces.

Given the similarities between our defence platforms as well as our strategic convergences on regional and international issues, training programmes organised in India, we believe, are all the more relevant and meaningful to Vietnamese Armed Forces personnel. 

Besides regular courses which are routinely conducted at various defence training establishments, we have also offered to conduct tailor-made courses for Vietnam People's Army personnel in India.

In consonance with Vietnam People's Army’s requirements,we are conducting long-term training courses of Vietnamese officers at prestigious institutions like National Defence Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Indian Air Force Academy, Defence Services Staff College, College of Defence Management and National Defence College.  The outcomes have been encouraging and we intend to further enhance such programmes.

As part of these engagements, we are willing to explore nomination of Vietnam People's Army officers for longer term degree courses in English and IT in civil universities under the scholarships offered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Our exchanges with Vietnam incapacity building for UN Peacekeeping Operations areequallystrong, with close cooperation between India’s Centre for UN Peacekeeping Operations and Vietnam’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  We wish tofurther strengthen exchanges in this area in 2020. 

Our defence-related think tanks are also closely engaged.  India’s United Services Institution (USI) and Institute for Defence and Strategic Analysis (IDSA) have regular interaction with prestigious institutions like Institute of Defence International Relations (IDIR) and Institute of Defence Strategies (IDS) of Vietnam.  During the recent visit to India of Chief of General Staff and Vice Minister of National Defence of Vietnam, Senior Lt Gen Phan Van Giang, an agreement was signed between IDSA and IDS to step up their exchanges and cooperation. 

Ladies and Gentlemen:
I would like to reiterate that India is committed to training cooperation with Vietnam.  We are ready to share our skills and technical expertise and at the same time, learn from our Vietnamese friends.  We wish to be the leading partner for Vietnam’s Defence Forces in their quest for professional excellence.
Before I conclude, I take this opportunity to thank all the concerned departments in Ministry of National Defence of Vietnam, especially Foreign Relations Department, Personnel Department, Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Institute of Defence International Relations, Institute of Defence Strategies and all others who have partnered with us in making the Defence ITEC Programme a success.

Allow me to propose a toast:

1. To the ever growing friendship between India and Vietnam;
2. To the special defence partnership between our two militaries;
3. And to the health, happiness and success of our Chief Guest, Lt Gen Vu ChienThang, Director General, Foreign Relations Department of Ministry of National Defence and all our friends from Vietnam’s defence forces present here today.

Cam On;
Dhanyavad;
Thank you very much.

Quan He An Do Viet Nam Muon Nam.