The Hindu : National : India, Vietnam can tap new areas of cooperation, says Pratibha

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India, Vietnam can tap new areas of cooperation, says Pratibha

Parvathi Menon

“Our endeavour to forge close ties with ASEAN countries”

— Photo: AP

President Pratibha Patil with Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, at Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.

Ho Chi Minh city: President Pratibha Patil arrived here on Monday evening on the first leg of her 10-day visit to Vietnam and Indonesia. She was given a warm reception at the Tan Son Nhat airport by Madame Nguyen Thi Hong, Vice-Chairperson of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh city, and other senior officials of the Vietnamese foreign office.

Earlier, speaking to journalists on board the flight, President Patil, who is heading a 59-member delegation, said that in the framework of India’s Look East Policy, she hoped that her visit would further strengthen political and economic links with Vietnam, with which India has close historical ties.

“In the current backdrop of the international financial crisis,” her discussions in Vietnam would extend to “identifying additional areas of cooperation … on matters of regional and global interest including terrorism, energy security, food security and reform of the international organisation,” the President said.

“It has been our endeavour to forge close relations with countries of ASEAN, of which Vietnam and Indonesia are important members. The India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, which has been concluded recently, will open new possibilities of regional inter-linkages in commerce.”

Expanding economic ties through new investments and business opportunities is clearly the focus of the President’s visit. Vietnam’s growth rates, which crossed eight per cent in 2006 and 2007, fell to 6.5 per cent in 2008. Although the global recession has hit both countries, there is still considerable scope for an “outward integration of our respective national economies,” said Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.

In her speech at a banquet hosted by Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Ms. Patil praised the pivotal role played by the city that is in the “vanguard of Vietnam’s march towards development.”

She said the ‘sister city relationships’ that Ho Chi Minh city has with several cities of the world could be considered in respect of Mumbai too, as “both cities drive the economic engines in our fast growing nations.”

This is the first presidential visit since 1991 when R. Venkataraman made a trip to Vietnam.

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