Jyoti Kataria asked: What is the future of India-Vietnam cooperation in the field of renewable energy?

Udai Bhanu Singh replies: Renewable energy or clean energy is energy from natural resources that can be replenished such as solar, hydro-electric, geothermal and wind energy. In a virtual summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc in December 2020, an agreement on renewable energy was signed. It was among the seven important agreements that were initialled (including the Plan of Action for period 2021-2023 for further implementation of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership). The MoU between National Solar Federation of India and Vietnam Clean Energy Association was signed to promote the exchange of knowledge, best practices, information between Indian and Vietnamese solar power industries, and to explore new business opportunities to promote solar power in India and Vietnam.  The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable development and mitigating the adverse impact on climate change while addressing their requirements for energy security as developing countries and agreed to “partner in new and renewable energy resources, energy conservation and other climate-resilient technologies”. It is hoped that Vietnam’s future participation in International Solar Alliance “would bring new opportunities for cooperation in large scale deployment of solar energy”. India and Vietnam cooperation already exists in the nuclear energy sector and in the oil and gas sector. India is one of the top trading partners of Vietnam and coincidentally both India and Vietnam start their term as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council from 2021 which auger well for cooperation between the two.  Posted on February 19, 2021 Views expressed are of the expert and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or the Government of India.