Terming the exercise as an enabler, the Army said, “The conduct of Vinbax – 2024 as a field training exercise with enhanced scope from previous editions of bilateral exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between the Indian Army and Vietnam People’s Army.” Additional activities will also be conducted. A 48-hour validation exercise with humanitarian assistance & disaster relief demonstration and equipment display is also part of the schedule to assess the standards achieved by both contingents while executing technical military operations under similar scenarios in UN missions. The joint exercise will also provide an opportunity to the troops of both contingents to learn about the social and cultural heritage of each other.India and Vietnam established a Strategic Partnership in 2007 which was raised to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in September 2016.The interactions and dialogues towards strengthening the relationship included the 14th India-Vietnam Defence Policy Dialogue that took place in New Delhi in August. It was co-chaired by the then Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Deputy Minister of National Defence of Vietnam Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien.During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the range of bilateral defence cooperation issues and noted the transformative progress in the ties after the signing of ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ in June 2022 during the visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Vietnam.Defence cooperation is one of the strong pillars of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Vietnam. Vietnam is an important partner in India’s Act East Policy and in the Indo-Pacific Region.
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