Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents between the two countries' ministries and agencies on May 6, at the press briefing announcing the outcomes of their talks in New Delhi. — VNA/VNS Photo

NEW DELHI — General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee and State President Tô Lâm and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the exchange of various cooperation agreements between both countries’ ministries and agencies in New Delhi on Wednesday, following their official talks.

The signed documents include a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in digital technology between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, a MoU on pharmaceutical management between the Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s Drug Administration and the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, and the Việt Nam–India Cultural Exchange Programme for 2026–30.

Additional MoUs cover tourism cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Indian Ministry of Tourism, the establishment of friendship and cooperation ties between HCM City and Mumbai; and public auditing between the State Audit Office of Việt Nam and India’s Comptroller and Auditor General.

Financial and technological cooperation also advanced through a MoU on payment systems and digital payment innovation between the State Bank of Việt Nam and the Reserve Bank of India, alongside a bilateral QR code-based retail payment connectivity agreement between Việt Nam's National Payment Corporation and India’s NPCI International Payments Limited.

In education and research, MoUs were signed between the Hồ Chí Minh National Academy of Politics and Nalanda University of India; between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Việt Nam National University–Hà Nội, as well as the University of Đà Nẵng, to establish Indian Studies professorships; and between the Indian Knowledge Project under the Indian Ministry of Culture and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Việt Nam National University–HCM City to launch the Indian Knowledge (Gyan Bharatam) project.

Cooperation in strategic resources was also highlighted through a MoU between the Việt Nam's Institute for Technology of Radioactive and Rare Elements and IREL (India) Limited.

Over the past years, Việt Nam–India relations have been growing steadily and consistently, with increasing depth and substance. The establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016 marked a qualitative leap in bilateral ties.

Economic and trade ties have grown robustly, with two-way trade nearing US$15–16 billion annually. India is now among Việt Nam's top 10 trade partners. Two-way investment continues to expand, with close to 500 projects underway and ample room for further breakthroughs.

Notably, both countries are actively expanding cooperation into emerging areas such as sci-tech, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, clean energy, and satellite data. Cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties have also seen strides. — VNA/VNS