Vietnamlawmagazine

President Truong Tan Sang and Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil witnessed six cooperative agreements during the former’s four-day official visit to India starting on October 11.

The agreements included an agreement on extradition, a memorandum of understanding between the two governments on the Vietnam-India Friendship Year, a 2011-13 action program on agricultural research and education, an oil and gas cooperation agreement between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and India’s ONGC Videsh Co., Ltd, a protocol on cultural cooperation and a cultural exchange program between Vietnam and India.

Both countries agreed to celebrate 2012 as the “Vietnam-India Friendship Year”. They would work to enhance cooperation in politics, defense, security, economics, culture and human resource development, the leaders said.

India agreed to extend new Lines of Credit to Vietnam with favorable terms and conditions for projects in infrastructure, oil and gas, power generation and transmission.

The leaders agreed to further strengthen cooperation at regional and international forums, especially the ASEAN-India and Mekong-Ganga forums, as well as the EAS, ASEM, ARF, WTO, UN and the Non-Aligned Movement.

The two sides agreed to settle disputes in the East Sea through peaceful negotiations, without resorting to the threat or use of force by the parties concerned, in accordance with principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea.

They agreed to strengthen cooperation to effectively address the challenges posed by non-traditional security threats such as climate change, environmental degradation, natural disasters, energy security, HIV/AIDS and avian influenza.-