India and Vietnam, a rising ASEAN economy, are set to upscale their multifaceted strategic and economic partnership during the visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung to India to participate in the BRICS summit as a partner country.
This is PM Le Minh Hung’s first visit to India as head of the Vietnamese government and will mark the 10th anniversary of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Vietnam.
The September 12-13 visit of PM Le to India has both bilateral and multilateral context. The Vietnamese leader will participate in the BRICS outreach session with the leaders of other BRICS partner countries. He will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discuss an entire gamut of bilateral issues, including trade and investment, defence, energy, connectivity and enhancing cooperation in the global arena.
Rise of Vietnam & ASEAN
The visit of the Vietnamese leader comes to India at a time when India has emerged as the world’s fastest-growing major economy and Vietnam has become ASEAN’s star economy. Vietnam’s economy now ranks 4th in ASEAN, behind Indonesia and ahead of Thailand. Vietnam, one of ASEAN’s fastest growing and most dynamic economies, posted 8% GDP growth in 2025, the fastest among major ASEAN economies. Electronics, manufacturing, FDI, and public investment have been key drivers. ASEAN an economic bloc is set to grow at the rate of 4-5 per cent and boast combined GDP of 4.5 $trillion.
Vietnam, India and BRICS
The growing strategic convergence between New Delhi and Hanoi has paved the way for enhancing coordination between the two countries in multilateral and plurilateral groupings. Reciprocating Vietnam’s support for India’s enhanced ASEAN outreach, New Delhi has vigorously backed Hanoi’s role in BRICS. Vietnam’s participation in BRICS as a partner country reflects its strong support for multilateralism and proactive contribution to multilateral cooperation mechanisms, while opening opportunities to diversify markets, strengthen supply-chain connectivity, says Vietnamese Ambassador to India Trinh Minh Manh.
PM Hung’s first participation in the summit, held under India’s 2026 Chairmanship, underlines Vietnam’s support for India’s presidency of BRICS, which pivots around the four pillars, “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.” Amid growing global turbulence Vietnam’s participation in BRICS conveys a message of support for multilateralism, solidarity, cooperation and shared responsibility for peace, stability and sustainable development.
According to Ambassador Manh, this year’s theme on Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability closely aligns with Vietnam’s development priorities. This opens new avenues for Vietnam to share its experience and promote practical initiatives in areas of common interest, including digital transformation, science and technology, innovation, human resource development, the green economy, clean energy, enhanced connectivity and sustainable supply chains.
BRICS will provide Vietnam with additional space to diversify markets and partners, expand trade and investment, and enhance resilience against global economic fluctuations, said the ambassador. Stronger connectivity with BRICS economies may also enable Vietnamese enterprises to participate more deeply in regional and global production and supply chains. At the same time, BRICS offers scope for enhancing cooperation in science and technology, innovation and digital transformation. With India’s overarching focus on shaping a reformed and inclusive multilateralism and global governance architecture, Vietnam, with its rising economy and regional heft, is an ideal partner.
India-Vietnam Bonding
PM Hung’s participation in the BRICS Summit will impart a fresh momentum to the burgeoning Vietnam–India relations across the spectrum. India-Vietnam relations have entered a new phase of accelerated growth following the upgrade of bilateral ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The state visit of Vietnamese President Tô Lâm to India in May has already built a robust foundation for acceleration of India-Vietnam relations, which will be telescoped in PM Hung’s talks with PM Modi.
Raising the bar for enhancing economic ties will be among key outcomes. The two sides are expected to unveil new initiatives to raise bilateral trade to 25 billion USD by 2030, while facilitating market access for goods from both countries and promoting two-way investment. The two sides will also step up cooperation in connectivity, infrastructure, aviation, logistics and supply chains, signalling a new high-growth trajectory in their partnership. Besides traditional areas, the two sides will focus on developing new growth drivers in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and energy.
The strategic foundations connecting Vietnam and India are becoming stronger by the day. For India, Vietnam is a lynchpin of its Act East Policy, its Indo-Pacific vision and its expanding engagement with ASEAN. For Vietnam, India is not only a trusted strategic partner and a rising Asian economy, but also a gateway for expanding engagement with South Asia and the Global South.
BRICS provides an additional opportunity to Vietnam broaden its network of partners and to deepen relations with leading economies of the Global South. As an influential player in ASEAN and the host of APEC 2027, Vietnam is well positioned to bolster connections between BRICS and the Asia-Pacific in areas such as supply chains, energy, logistics, green transition, science and technology, innovation and human-resource development.
Strategic Convergence
The talks in Delhi will deepen the arc of strategic convergence as India and Vietnam enhance coordination in promoting freedom of navigation and synthesise India-led Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). The two countries can leverage their strengths to enhance ASEAN–South Asia connectivity, promote South–South cooperation, and amplify the voice of the Global South to forge a more representative and democratic international order.
Against this larger backdrop of shifts in regional and global landscape, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung’s first visit to India and participation in BRICS 2026 is set to be a milestone, imparting more content and depth to this crucial strategic partnership. T
he visit will underscore synergies between India’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ and Vietnam’s ‘Vision 2045,’ and make the two countries key partners in shaping an inclusive and multi-polar Asia. Looking ahead, one can expect the two sides to redouble their efforts for peace, stability and security in the South China Sea and the larger Indo-Pacific region.
(Manish Chand is Founder-CEO of Centre for Global India Insights, a think tank focused on international affairs and mapping India’s rise as a global player. He is Editor-in-Chief “India and The World,” an influential magazine-journal focused on international affairs and India Writes Network, a portal on global affairs.)
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO, Centre for Global India Insights, an India-based think tank focused on global affairs.
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