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| Mr. Huynh Thanh Lap, President of the Vietnam - India Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, presents flowers to congratulate the Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA) |
Delivering congratulatory remarks, Mr. Huynh Thanh Lap, Chairman of the Vietnam - India Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, emphasized that Vietnam and India have a long-standing and traditional relationship, rooted from trade exchanges to cultural exchange, art and religious relations. The two countries have always supported and helped each other in the struggles for national independence, as well as the current stage of national construction and development.
Recalling the words of late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong about Vietnam - India relations "as clear as the sky without a single cloud", Mr. Huynh Thanh Lap said that the Vietnamese people are proud of their friendship with India, a good, faithful and stable friendship in the face of complicated political changes in the world.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972 and especially since the upgrading to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016, the relationship between the two countries has made many great achievements. The two sides have exchanged many high-level delegations, signed and effectively implemented many bilateral cooperation agreements and coordinated well at international forums. Economic cooperation between Vietnam and India has also increased, with bilateral turnover growing at an average of 20% per year.
On this occasion, Mr. Huynh Thanh Lap thanked the Consulate General of India and the Indian Business Association in Vietnam for their close cooperation with the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organizations. The Vietnam - India Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City successfully organized many meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and India.
He expressed his wish to continue receiving coordination and support from the Consulate General of India and the Indian Business Association in Vietnam in organizing people-to-people external events in Ho Chi Minh City, contributing to consolidating and developing the good traditional friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and India.
Thanking the City Union of Friendship Organizations for organizing the meaningful ceremony, Mr. Madan Mohan Sethi, Consul General of India to Ho Chi Minh City, shared the historic milestone of August 15, 1947 for the people of India, the birth of the independent and sovereign State of India. Over the past 75 years, India has become a prosperous, dynamic and influential power in the region and the world.
He affirmed that Vietnam has always been India's most important partner in Southeast Asia. “The relationship between the two countries has been developing very well in all fields, on the basis of the care and cultivation of generations of leaders and people of the two countries in the past as well as at present,” he said.
According to the Indian Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City, after a period of being affected by COVID-19, now is the most appropriate time for India and Vietnam to further promote cooperation activities, especially in economic, political, security-defence relations and people-to-people exchanges.
The Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City has been carrying out many activities on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Vietnam, including the cultural activities, art, cinema, promoting tourism, investment, people-to-people exchanges, in order to enhance understanding, consolidate and develop the friendly relationship between India and Vietnam in general, and between India and Ho Chi Minh City in particular./.