The Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and the Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Minister Pham Binh Minh will be chairing a bilateral meeting between the two nations. They will be joined by delegates from various Ministries and Departments for the 14th Meeting of the Joint Commission (JCM), taking place in Hanoi on September 16.
India and Vietnam are expected to conduct an extensive review of their bilateral issues at the meeting, including their cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture and information technology. It will lay the groundwork for the upcoming visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to India, to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
The event follows a tense encounter where the Indian assault vessel INS Airavat was asked repeatedly by the Chinese navy to leave. The two sides have not ruled out discussing the geostrategic development.