India and Vietnam set to amplify trade and investment ties
India and Vietnam set to amplify trade and investment ties
Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang will pay a state visit to India, laying new groundwork for the two countries to further increase trade and investment co-operation.
According to the Indian Embassy in Vietnam, at the invitation of Ram Nath Kovind, President of the Republic of India, Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang would undertake a state visit to India on March 2-4, 2018.
Quang would be accompanied by his spouse Nguyen Thi Hien and a high-level official delegation including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, ministers, provincial Party secretaries, and a number of deputy ministers.
This is the fourth presidential visit from Vietnam to India, the earlier ones being paid by President Ho Chi Minh in 1958, President Tran Duc Luong in 1999, and President Truong Tan Sang in 2011. From India, President Rajendra Prasad visited Vietnam in 1958, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil in 2008, and President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014.
During the visit, President Quang will visit Bodh Gaya and New Delhi. He will also have meetings with President Kovind, delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and meetings with a number of other Indian leaders.
Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, will also call on President Quang.
Quang will also be accompanied by a large delegation of senior Vietnamese businessmen and industrialists and would be attending and addressing the Vietnam-India Business Forum organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The speaker of Lok Sabha (House of the People) of the Indian Parliament, Sumitra Mahajan, will also call on President Quang who will also meet the India-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Indian Parliament.
“2017 was a year of many milestones in our relationship with Vietnam and has been celebrated as the ‘Year of Friendship’ to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of our Strategic Partnership,” said Indian Ambassador to Vietnam P. Harish.
Numerous activities have taken place in India and Vietnam to mark these milestones. President Quang is also expected to attend the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Cultural Days in India function in New Delhi to conclude the ‘Year of Friendship’ celebrations.
The two countries have upgraded their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016 during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Vietnam.
During the current state visit, a number of important agreements would be signed to further strengthen this partnership in the areas of co-operation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy, economy and trade, agriculture, and defence and security.
“The bilateral trade between the two countries, according to data from India, has crossed the $10-billion mark, and both countries remain committed to work to achieve the of $15-billion bilateral trade target set by our leaders by 2020,” Harish said. “Vietnam is the fourth largest trading partner of India among the ASEAN countries and India is among the top ten trading partners of Vietnam.”
President Quang is also expected to deliver a policy speech and meet Indian scholars at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi.
“Coming after the successful and fruitful visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his high-level delegation to India in January 2018 for the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit, where he was a guest of honour at the Republic Day Parade of India, the state visit of President Quang provides an important opportunity for interaction between the leaderships of the two countries at the highest level, to give a strong impetus to the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and to lay out a roadmap for enhanced bilateral engagement in the future,” Harish said.
Currently, India has 168 projects in Vietnam, operating in the sectors of energy, mineral exploration, agro-processing, sugar manufacturing, agrochemicals, IT, and car components.
In 2013, Tata Power—part of Tata Group—was awarded a $2.1-billion thermal power project in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, which is the largest Indian investment project in Vietnam to date. Other Indian firms with active projects include Reliance Industries, Gimpex, JK Tires, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
