India, Vietnam seek to double bilateral trade
NEW DELHI - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s forthcoming visit to India will be aimed at doubling bilateral trade to $2 billion in the next three years, with a view to reducing the trade deficit that is hugely in India’s favour.
Briefing reporters on the three-day visit starting on Wednesday, Vietnamese ambassador Vu Quang Diem said a 186-strong delegation, including 80 businesspersons, would accompany the leader. They will hold meetings with business and industry leaders in Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Besides 15 ministers, the delegation will include six provincial leaders who will explore opportunities for regional cooperation, especially with West Bengal and the northeastern states. “Talks are on regarding setting up of footwear and plastic factories in various Indian states,” Diem said.
Seeking greater Indian investment in Vietnam will also be high on the agenda. Recent multi-million dollar investments by the Tata and Essar groups have propelled India to the tenth rank among the highest investors in Vietnam, and the country is the largest recipient of Indian foreign direct investment (FDI) among all nations of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) group..
There will be a separate meeting between visiting information technology and IT-enabled service entrepreneurs and their Indian counterparts, and possibilities of collaboration with Indian IT majors like NIIT, Satyam and Wipro will be explored.
The Vietnamese delegation will also seek collaboration with Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Reliance, ONGC Videsh Ltd and the Essar Group. In particular, Vietnam is keen on Indian investment in the energy sector.
“Indian companies are welcome to produce energy in Vietnam, whether using oil, gas or coal,” the ambassador said. However, he said, no agreement has yet been reached on extending lines of credit to Vietnam to support the entry of Indian energy companies there.
The two governments will sign several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and agreements on shipping, mutual assistance in legal matters, cooperation in agriculture and fisheries, and cultural exchanges. A much-needed agreement on direct air links, however, remains elusive.
Diem said Vietnam is keen to see that the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement is concluded by the end of this year. “We will continue to make efforts to this end bilaterally and multilaterally,” he said.
By Madhur Singh - Hindustan Times - July 2, 2007.
Vietnam aims at doubling two-way trade with India
NEW DELHI - Aiming at reducing the trade deficit between them, India and Vietnam are gearing up to double the value of two-way trade in the next three years.
Ahead of visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on July 4 here, Vietnamese ambassador Vu Quang Diem told reporters that the country was planning to increase the existing two-way trade of 1.018 billion USD to two billion USD by 2010.
In his three-day visit, Dung will be accompanied by a 186-member delegation comprising ministers, government officials, businessmen and political leaders.
The delegation will interact with business and industry leaders in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. During the visit, the two countries are expected to sign several MoUs, agreements and a joint declaration, Diem said.
Besides the Indian government, the Vietnamese delegation will also seek collaboration with Tata Steel, Reliance, Tata Motors, Essar Group and NIIT.
While India ranked among the top ten investors in Vietnam among the ASEAN countries, Diem observed the two-way trade between the two countries was far behind its neighbour China with 15 billion US dollars trade volume.
Diem said Vietnam will also seek increase in trade with East and North East India after the development of rail link between the two countries.
"Once the rail link is established on that side, we can look forward to developing trade ties with the Eastern India, especially between Kolkata and Ho Chi Minh City," Diem said.
"What is also needed very urgently is the direct flight between the two countries," he added.
The total volume of bilateral trade "increased significantly" from 50 million US dollars in mid-1980s to more than one billion in 2006.
"The value has increased steadily, especially in the recent years, at an average of 20 percent a year," he said.
In terms of investment, India has 12 FDI projects with total registered investment of 46.4 million US dollars, but the implementation investment has reached more than 580 million US dollars, Diem informed.
Vietnam's main exports to India are coffee, coal, pepper, cinnamon, rubber, electronics and footwear with 137.8 million US dollars last year.
India exported cattle-feed, materials, iron and steel, metals, plastic, pharmaceuticals, machinery and equipment, textile, chemicals, and pesticides valued at about 880 million US dollars.
India is also an important partner of Vietnam in the areas of science and technology, security and defence, and education and training.
The Time of India - July 2, 2007.
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