In order to further boost Vietnam - India trade ties and create a bridge for the business communities of the two nations to meet, discuss and exchange opportunities, the HCM City Branch of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) recently cooperated with the Andhra Chamber of Commerce (ACC) to successfully organise the Vietnam - India Trade Exchange Programme.
In his opening keynote address, Mr Vo Tan Thanh, Vice President of VCCI and Director of VCCI - HCM, said that, in the current context of global economic volatility driven by both developed countries and emerging economies, the picture of the Indian economy is positively bright. The success of the Indian economy stemmed from several factors, including new reforms. The Indian Government attached increasing importance to the ASEAN role in the international market and the shift from “Look East” Policy to “Look East” Action and the impending advent of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015 will certainly open up tremendous cooperation opportunities for India and ASEAN in general, and India and Vietnam in particular.
Affirming that Vietnam is a friend and a pillar of India’s Look East Policy, Ms Smita Pant, Indian Consul General in HCM City, said based on long-standing traditional relations, Vietnam and India are actively building the strategic partnership in various fields, including trade and investment cooperation. In terms of trade cooperation, India is now a Top 10 trade partner of Vietnam and Vietnam is the 28th biggest trade partner of India. Positively, their trade revenues are getting more balanced. With respect to investment, as of August 2015, India ranked 27th out of 105 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 111 projects with a total registered capital of nearly US$530 million. Notably, in 2014, India’s TATA Group and Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade completed procedures for the launch of a BOT (build - operate - transfer) project on the construction of US$1.8 billion Long Phu Power Plant 2 in Soc Trang province. This is the biggest investment project in the Mekong Delta region, expected to go into operation in 2018.
She recommended, “Indian companies need to focus on trade and investment fields as Vietnam has become a production base of the region with complex supply chains, cheap labour, good logistics and transportation. For Vietnamese businesses, I hope that you will see that India is a stable supplier of high-quality raw materials and machinery and a reliable partner. When we apply the Look East Policy, let’s look to India.”
Mr Arun Kumar Saraf, President of the Kolkata Merchant Chamber Of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said Vietnam and India have for years cooperated very effectively in such areas as garment and textile, pharmaceutical and tourism. Each year, some 55,000 Indian tourists arrive in Vietnam where there are a lot of Indian cultural influences such as Hindu temples in Ho Chi Minh City, My Son Sanctuary and many Indian restaurants across the country. The number will increase in the future when direct fly routes will be opened by Jet Airways. Recent activities of the Embassy of Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines and Jet Airways will help boost tourism cooperation between the two nations, especially with Kolkata City - a positive step of strengthening West Bengal - Vietnam cooperation.
In order to further enhance India’s trade relations with Mekong River countries, he proposed that “MCCI with the Chambers of Commerce of five Mekong River countries: Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos will establish a economic zone connecting the Mekong River region and the Ganges River region in order to tap development potential like agriculture, garment and textile, tourism, culture and religion.”
Regarding HCM City - India cooperation, Mr Tat Thanh Cang, Vice Chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, said that India is one of key partners of HCM City in various areas, particularly trade. In the first eight months of 2015, the city’s exports to India increased by 3.31 percent year on year to reach US$184.735 million, while its imports from India climbed 9.06 percent to US$356.932 million.
He added, "The governments of both countries should further strengthen exchanges and trade connections in order to provide cooperation opportunities for investors and businesses of the two countries in general and HCM City and Indian businesses in particular, thus pushing forward another step to bring the expected Vietnam - India bilateral trade turnover to US$15 billion in 2020.”
My Chau
Vietnamese
