Vietnam – Important pillar of India’s “Act East ” Policy
PSNews – For India, ASEAN is at the heart of the “Act East” Policy with Vietnam being an important pillar of the Policy, emphasized Mr. Parvathaneni Harish, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Vietnam.
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| At the event |
A seminar named “India-Vietnam: Prospects for Prosperity and Partnership” was held in Hanoi on September 21 under the cooperation of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the Embassy of India in Vietnam.
Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish emphasized that India attached great importance to the traditional friendship with Vietnam in all areas, including national defense and security, trade, culture and people exchange.
Particularly, the bilateral trade between Vietnam and India has increased from $237 million in 2001-02 to $10.135 billion in 2016-17, an increase of over 4.000%. According to an HSBC report, Vietnam is India’s fastest growing export and import partner in the periods of 2016-20 and 2021-30.
The Ambassador stressed the two countries’ commitment to diversify trade and explore new areas to reach the trade target set by the two nations’ leaders of $15 billion by the year of 2020.
Success of the ongoing infrastructure projects such as the 1.320 MW Long Phu 2 thermal power project with an estimated investment of $2.2 billion will provide an impetus to Indian investors and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities in Vietnam.
“For India, ASEAN is at the heart of our ‘Act East’ Policy and at the centre of a dream of an Asian century with Vietnam being an important pillar of the ‘Act East’ Policy,” said the Ambassador.
The Ambassador expressed his optimism about the prospects for future development of the India-Vietnam relationship and hoped that the civilizational and historical friendship that spans over two millennia of the two countries will continue to flourish.
