Vietnam and India promote economic cooperation

Vietnamese products promoted at an international trade fair in India (Photo: VNA)

The event attracted the participation of about 130 businesses from both countries.

Speaking at the forum, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang emphasised that the long-standing traditional relationship between the two sides has created a solid foundation to boost their economic-trade ties.

She also pointed out that bilateral trade has faced plenty of difficulties, such as negative impacts from global economic fluctuations, limited information about market and business connections, high transportation costs and time, and a lack of awareness regarding the importance of cross-border e-commerce.

She also suggested some solutions for overcoming those challenges, including promoting supply chain connections, the application of information technology and digital transformation in trade promotion, as well as establishing direct air routes to save time and costs for goods transportation.

At the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Hai said that trade and investment cooperation is one of the important pillars in the relations between India and Vietnam, although it still has plenty of potential for further development.

The Ambassador said that an increasing number of Vietnamese businesses have paid close attention to the Indian market. The Vietnamese Embassy in India has received nearly 10 Vietnamese delegations to join trade activities in just over a month.

He affirmed that Vietnam supports India’s increasing role and position both regionally and globally in the interest of the two countries’ peoples.

Shantuna Srivatava, former Chairman of India-ASEAN Business Promotion Council, said that collaboration between the two sides still has a lot of potential for development, and trade cooperation is expected to continue to grow strongly in future. He proposed raising two-way trade turnover between the two countries to US$20 billion in the near future./.