India and Vietnam on Tuesday stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region and pledged to work together in line with their “enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership”.As part of his visit to Hanoi, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang. “The two ministers reviewed the growing defense partnership between the two countries and discussed ways to further deepen cooperation in maritime security, defense industry, training and regional stability,” the Defense Ministry said.“The two sides discussed ways to enhance cooperation in a range of areas including military training, defense industry cooperation, maritime security, capacity building, UN peacekeeping, cyber security and high-level exchanges,” the ministry said.After the talks, India and Vietnam signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and quantum technology. The Defense Minister’s visit to Hanoi comes days after India and Vietnam upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.The two Defense Ministers virtually inaugurated a Language Laboratory at the Air Force Officers College in Vietnam. This lab has been established with the help of India. Rajnath also announced the decision to set up an AI lab at the University of Telecommunications in Nha Trang.“It is my honor to extend greetings to the Secretary General and President of Vietnam on this visit to Vietnam. I convey Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warm regards and reaffirm India’s commitment to deepening defense cooperation, a key pillar of the enhanced comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries,” Rajnath posted on Twitter.Later, Rajnath left for Seoul for the second leg of his two-nation visit. Both India and South Korea are looking to deepen strategic military cooperation and expand the scope of bilateral engagement.