Ms Smita Pant, India Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City shared her thoughts with Vietnam Business Forum on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam - India diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership relations in 2017. Nguyen Viet Hung reports.
As the Indian Consul General in HCM City, could you please tell us the prominient achievements of the friendly traditional partnership between the two countries, especially in recent times?
India and Vietnam will commemorate the 10th anniversary the establishment of the Strategic Partnership in 2017. We will also celebrate the 45th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. In recent times, there have been significant achievements and high level visits including that of the Minister of External Affairs of India to Vietnam in August 2014, President of India in September 2014 and that of Prime Minister of Vietnam to India in October 2014. Commerce Secretary visited Ho Chi Minh City with a strong 50 member business delegation in January 2015. Last year alone, we had some 22 business delegations visiting Ho Chi Minh City in areas including textile, pharmaceuticals, IT, leather, food processing, waste water treatment, chemicals, etc. On cultural fronts, we held the Buddhist Festival in 2014 in collaboration with Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. Last year, we celebrated the 125th birth anniversary of Uncle Ho Chi Minh by holding an exhibition at thd War Remnants Museum. This year we held Ao Dai – Saree friendship walk to celebrate the costumes of the two countries. We have encouraged holding of conferences to highlight the historical and civilizational connections between India and Vietnam.
As one of the 10 largest trade partners of Vietnam. The current bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and India has reached more than US$9 billion. Hopefully, it will raise bilateral trade turnover by reaching to US$15 billion in 2020. What efforts and specific action program should we need?
Our bilateral trade stands over US$ 9 billion. You would know that two sides had set the target of US$7 billion by 2015, which has been achieved.
Now, the two sides are working to achieve the US$15 billion target by 2020. Certain priority sectors have been identified including hydrocarbon, power generation, tourism, textiles, footwear, agriculture, agro-product, chemicals, machinery tools, supporting industries, etc.
There is a need to address information gaps on both sides. To this effect, we have been holding seminars and Buyer Seller Meeting so that business community on both sides could directly interact.
What practical measures will the two Governments conduct to strengthen export supporting activities for a business community that will continue to improve bilateral trade turnover?
Our cooperation in trade and investment has been identified as strategic objective by the two sides at the highest level.
Bilateral trade has grown strong in recent years particularly after the implementation of India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement. The conclusion of India-ASEAN Trade in Services and Investment Agreements would further boost economic cooperation between India and ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular. Both sides are utilizing established mechanisms such as the Joint Sub-Commission on Trade as well as closer people to people and business to business contacts for furthering our shared trade and investment objectives. We are also working towards realization of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).
Particularly in the field of investment, could you please tell us what achievements the Vietnam and India enterprises have obtained?
India has invested approximately US$370 million in agriculture sector in Vietnam. We have investments from ONGC Videsh Ltd., which is over to US$500 million in gas sector. The upcoming Tata power thermal in Soc Trang is a US$2.1 billion investment which will further strengthen our cooperation in area of energy.
As a representative of the India Government in HCMC, during your term of office, what specific tasks have you been doing to promote a friendly partnership between Vietnam and India as well as the India - ASEAN partnership?
India and Vietnam have a long standing and time-tested partnership.
We will continue to work to enhance our cooperation in cultural, economic, educational and commercial links. Some projects under India ASEAN framework are being implemented in and around Ho Chi Minh City. We will work to assist in their implementation.
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