India, Vietnam to Sign Extradition Treaty, Other Bilateral Agreements.

Vietnam president Truong Tan Sang landed in India on Tuesday on a three-day state visit. The two countries are expected to sign a number of bilateral agreements including one on extraditions.

The visit follows tensions between Beijing and New Delhi over India-Vietnam oil exploration projects in the South China Sea, over which China claims it has sole rights.

“Cooperation in hydrocarbons is an important area and will be discussed,” a ministry of external affairs official said at a briefing on Tuesday.

The official also said Vietnam has sought India’s expertise in city distribution of gas, and India is likely to engage GAIL for it. Officials also said there is ongoing cooperation for training of Vietnam police personnel.

Sang, who landed in Bangalore, visited Infosys. He is expected to meet external affairs minister SM Krishna on Wednesday followed by delegation level talks with prime minister Manmohan Singh. He will also be meeting president Pratibha Patil and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj. On Thursday, his last day here, he will visit Mumbai to attend a meeting organised by the Indo-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, a meeting with the governor of Maharashtra, the ministry said.

“He will hold in-depth and substantive discussions with the Indian dignitaries to qualitatively enhance our strategic partnership. Some agreements are also likely to be signed during the visit,” a ministry official said.

“Our ties are marked by mutual trust and a near identity of outlook on bilateral, regional and international issues, and matters of common interest. The relations are free of any divergences.

“We are also working together closely to expand ties in areas like energy, security and defence, science and technology, culture and so on. We had concluded a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation in 2009.”

The ministry said this was Sang’s first visit outside the ASEAN region after he assumed office in August 2011.

The visits between the two countries include the state visit of Pratibha Patil in November 2008. Manmohan Singh visited Hanoi in October 2010. Last month, the external affairs minister visited Hanoi for the 14th India-Vietnam joint commission meeting on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation.

Source : dnaindia.com