New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday left here for Vietnam on a bilateral visit.
"An eastern journey for strengthening bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. PM departs for Vietnam and China for G20," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
This is the first prime ministerial bilateral visit from India to Vietnam in 15 years after the visit of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.
On Saturday, Modi will meet with the top Vietnamese leadership, including General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Chairman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.
Later in the day, he will depart for Hangzhou in China where he will attend this year's G-20 summit on September 4-5.