The Vietnam Army general visit to India brought Lieutenant General Le Van Huong, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, to New Delhi on Thursday. He opened his engagements with tributes to India's fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial, followed by a Ceremonial Guard of Honour at South Block, the seat of India's defence and military establishments in the capital.

The reception at South Block is a customary marker for a visiting general officer of Lt Gen Le Van Huong's seniority.

Guard of honour at South Block

Formalities of this kind rarely draw comment on their own, but they set the tone for the talks that came next, and for a delegation of this rank the sequence itself carries weight.

Vietnam Army general visit centres on the meeting with Gen Dhiraj Seth

From South Block, Lt Gen Le Van Huong moved on to a meeting with General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff. The Army said the two officers discussed measures to deepen defence cooperation and military to military engagement between their forces.

Both sides reaffirmed what the Army called a shared commitment to regional stability and peace, framing this Vietnam Army general visit inside the wider India Vietnam relationship rather than treating it as a standalone courtesy call between two general officers from allied general staffs on a routine circuit of counterpart visits.

Nothing further on the substance of the talks was disclosed.

Where the two armies' cooperation stands

India and Vietnam upgraded their ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, and defence has grown into one of its most active strands since that upgrade. A 2022 Joint Vision Statement on defence cooperation running to 2030 added a mutual logistics support agreement between the two countries, the first Vietnam had signed with any partner anywhere.

Army to army contact has kept pace with that framework.

Officer exchanges, staff talks and training cooperation have become a regular feature of the relationship, and a visiting Deputy Chief of General Staff fits a pattern that has run through much of this year. The Vietnam People's Army itself is organised on tri-service lines, with the General Staff functioning as its apex military command body, and a Deputy Chief of General Staff ranks among its most senior serving officers.

A year of contact across services

The Army's engagement with Vietnam on Thursday did not arrive in isolation. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh travelled to Hanoi earlier this year for his own three day visit, and the Indian Navy's frigate INS Udaygiri and corvette INS Kavaratti called at Ho Chi Minh City the same year. Neither visit was announced as connected to this one.

Coast guards keep pace too

Exercise SAHYOG-HOPTAC brought a Vietnam Coast Guard ship to Chennai last month for the seventh high level meeting between the two forces, run alongside the exercise's second edition. Thursday's visit adds the Army's own chapter to a year that has already touched the Air Force, the Navy and the coast guards of both countries.