Indian Consulate General Organizes Webinar to Celebrate India-Vietnam Relationship

The Consulate General of India has successfully organized a 120-minute webinar on the topic “India – An Emerging Global Power and Its Relationship with Vietnam” with the presence of more than 270 participants, who are senior government officials, scientists, researchers, lecturers and students from Ho Chi Minh City and Southern Provinces of Vietnam.

India@75 is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements. The Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is now celebrating by conducting a series of webinars in the areas of India’s socio-cultural, political and economic identity to enhance interaction, engagement and promote mutual understanding between people of India and Vietnam.

In view of these series, the webinar is a platform to share the knowledge on different topics & angles in the field of International Relationship between India and Vietnam. Throughout the talk today, officials, scientists, researchers, lecturers and students could gain insight into the current perspective of India in the global scale as well as key achievements about the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between two countries.

About 270 government officials from Provincial Departments of Foreign Affairs, lecturers, researchers, students from renowned Universities in Ho Chi Minh City and Southern Provinces of Vietnam joined the webinar with an in-depth discussion with senior speakers from India and Vietnam.

The Consulate General of India is honoured to welcome the participation of H.E. Mr. Pranay Verma, Ambassador of the Republic of India to Vietnam to deliver an inaugural remark. The webinar consisted of 04 keynote remarks by senior speakers from India and Vietnam. The first remark is from H.E. Mr. Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary of India on the topic “India, an emerging global power”, followed by Prof. S.D.Muni to share the knowledge on “Foreign Policy of India in the last 75 years”. Ambassador, Dr. Ton Sinh Thanh, Former Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to India also shared his view of “Milestones of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Vietnam from the traditional bonds to the current relations”. Last but not least, Assoc. Prof. Hoang Van Viet, Director of Thai Center, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), VNU-HCM commented on the topic “Vietnam's views on current India’s foreign policy and future development prospects”.

To emphasize the meaning of the event, Ambassador Pranay Verma spoke at the opening remarks: “The celebration of India@75 Independence Day is the occasion for us to reaffirm our commitment, to take our special relationship, our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam to newer heights”. At the webinar, H.E. Mr. Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary of India shared his view on the relationship between India and Vietnam in different dimensions such as geo-politics, economics, and multilateral concerns especially during the pandemic time. Furthermore, he also emphasized ways to reinforce this long-lasting relationship by conducting multiple means of cooperation in politics, trade, maritime issues, technology and especially in people to people activities.

Prof. S.D.Muni, Former Ambassador and Special Envoy, Government of India said that India invested resources and diplomatic efforts in Asian struggles against colonialism, imperialism and internal conflicts, such as Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia etc. He also mentioned how India has played a significant role in helping its neighbours secure their freedom, peace and stability since 1947, especially in the form of 'Act East Policy'.

Ambassador, Dr. Ton Sinh Thanh, Former Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to India extended his congratulations on the 75th year of the Indian Independence Day. The former Ambassador highlighted key achievements of India since the 1st Independence Day as the world’s 5th largest economy, and 4th military strength. Moreover, Dr. Thanh also believed relations between Vietnam and India will continue to flourish in the future based on three foundations: the historical and cultural bonds, strategic parallelism and the potential cooperation among two nations.

At the webinar, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Viet, Director of Thai Center, former Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, USSH, VNU-HCM, said that the comprehensiveness of this relationship is based on the actual needs of the two countries on the principle of mutual benefit, especially in the field of economy, trade and investment. Furthermore, India’s Act East Policy has been supporting Vietnam in national defense, by providing training courses for officials, building high-speed marine patrol boats. The Professor concluded by commenting that The Vietnam - India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is built on traditional humanitarian values, which was founded during difficult times of both nations and is now concreted to the current and future era.

Besides all sharing points of the guest speakers, the participants can also receive more useful take- aways through a 20 minutes Q&A session. The successful webinar ended with impressive comments of the guest speakers to confirm the stable development of this special relationship.