NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Thursday offered a $300 million loan to build up Vietnam’s maritime security, as the two sides said they want to double their trade and investment within five years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that India considers Vietnam a key pillar of its policy toward Southeast Asian nations and an important partner in its Indo-Pacific vision.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh as the latter arrives for talks, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh walk together as the latter arrives for talks, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh walk together as the latter arrives for talks in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh walk together as the latter arrives for talks in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh as the latter arrives for talks in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh join hands during a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh, during a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh, during a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
After their talks, Chinh told reporters the world faces fierce security challenges but there are opportunities for cooperation.
"The Asia Indo-Pacific region is a locomotive for growth, but it is also where major politics is taking place fiercely," he said. "We need an approach and methodology that is global and upholding multilateralism."
The prime ministers said both sides wanted to further their cooperation in defense and other areas such as semiconductor and green technology, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and climate action.
Modi and Chinh virtually inaugurated the “Army Software Park” in Vietnam, an educational facility set up with India's help to train Vietnamese soldiers in digital skills.
Bilateral trade between the two countries in 2022 grew 27% and reached $14.14 billion. Indian exports to Vietnam touched $6.7 billion, while Indian imports from Vietnam amounted to $7.44 billion in the same period, India's Ministry of External Affairs said.
Indian exports to Vietnam include iron and steel, cotton, cereals, meat and fishery products, electrical machinery and equipment, automobile parts, cement, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
India’s import basket from Vietnam mainly includes electrical and electronic equipment, inorganic chemicals, machinery and mechanical appliances, copper and rubber, coffee and tea, spices, iron and steel.
India’s investments in Vietnam are estimated at around $1.9 billion in energy, mineral exploration, agriculture, information technology and other areas, according to the country's External Affairs Ministry.
Vietnam has invested over $28.55 million in India, mainly in pharmaceuticals, information technology, chemicals, and building materials.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh as the latter arrives for talks, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh walk together as the latter arrives for talks, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh walk together as the latter arrives for talks in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh walk together as the latter arrives for talks in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh as the latter arrives for talks in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh join hands during a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh, during a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, receives his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh, during a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans began Saturday mourning another violent attack and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor drove a black BMW into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers on Friday evening, killing at least two people, including a small child, and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.
Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old who has been living in Germany for nearly two decades and practicing medicine there. He was arrested Friday evening at the site of the attack as medical officials tended to the injured, and was taken into custody for questioning.
But on Saturday there were still no answers as to what caused the man to drive into a crowd in the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg.
The violence shocked the country and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser were due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives," Scholz wrote on X. "We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers soon arrived and took the man into custody.
The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths couldn't be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.
“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters. “Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many.”
Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006 and who had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the attack on X but did not mention the suspect’s connection to the kingdom.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Hours after Friday's tragedy, the wail of sirens clashed with the market’s festive ornaments, stars and leafy garlands.
Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The cacophony was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened.”
She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.
“We are shaking,” Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”
The attack reverberated far beyond Magdeburg, with Haseloff calling it a catastrophe for the city, state and country. He said flags would be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government planned to do the same.
“It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring," the governor said.
Moulson reported from Berlin.
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
