PM Modi, New Vietnam PM to speak on Saturday

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart Phạm Minh Chinh will be speaking to each other on Saturday.

The talks will happen around 11:15 am IST and comes as part of growing engagement between the two countries.

This is the first conversation between the two leaders after Pham took charge as the PM of Vietnam.

Phạm Minh Chính took charge in April of the year and has served in various positions of the government.

During the talks, a key focus will be on dealing with the covid crisis, vaccines, engagement in Indo pacific, and other related areas. Amid the 2nd wave of the COVID pandemic, Vietnam had reached out to India with supplies. 

Vietnam's envoy Pham Sanh Chau speaking to WION recently on vaccines said, "We also have the opportunity to purchase Covaxin. Covaxin is not approved yet by WHO for emergency use, that is why we are waiting for this approval by WHO and then we will intensify the discussion and drafting of the contract for the purchase of this COVAXIN for Vietnamese people."

In December of last year, Indian PM Modi and the then PM of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc held a virtual summit. During the summit, India handed over the first of 12 High-Speed Guard boats to Vietnam under the $100 million Defence Line of Credit extended by New Delhi to Hanoi.  

Defence in fact has emerged as one of the pillars of the relationship. On first of this month, India's defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Defence Minister of Vietnam, Sr. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang. Tweeting after the meet, he said,"India and Vietnam continue to make forward movement in overcoming the challenges posed by COVID-19."