PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his wife were welcomed at Palam military airport, India, on January 24. (Source: VNA)

A welcome ceremony for the Prime Minister was held by the Indian Minister of Water and Human Resources, the Air Commander, Indian Ambassador to Vietnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to India, and other Embassy staff.

Prime Minister Phuc is scheduled to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and visit the Vietnamese Embassy in India the same day on Thursday. He will attend a retreat between ASEAN leaders and the Indian Prime Minister, the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and a ceremony to issue the ASEAN-Indian commemorative stamp set, and visit a painting exhibition on ASEAN-India ties.  The PM will also hold bilateral meetings with leaders of participating countries and major groups from Asia and the wider world.

In an interview with the Times of India, Prime Minister Phuc said the ASEAN-India strategic partnership rests upon the lasting values created by time-honoured interactions of their cultures and traditions.

The ASEAN-India Summit in New Delhi is a historic milestone that showcases the excellent relationship between ASEAN and India. Given this large and solid foundation, it is incumbent upon the leaders of ASEAN and India to take the partnership to the next level. The maintenance of peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight on all oceans in general and the region in particular is a goal and mission shared by all countries, Phuc said.

In 2017, there were a number of new developments in the process of building COC, including the ASEAN and China's adoption of the COC Framework and the initialization of COC negotiations. These are positive and commendable signs, and all parties need to maintain this atmosphere both during the negotiation and on the ground at sea.