Interview with Saigon Times
1. First of all, we would like to congratulate you for assuming the charge as Ambassador of India to Vietnam. Can you please share with us your action plan in order to promote India-Vietnam relations during your tenure?
Ans: Thank you very much. I feel privileged to be the Ambassador of India to such an important partner, with whom we have a long-standing relationship based on deep mutual trust and friendship.
Today, India and Vietnam are Comprehensive Strategic Partners, which means that there is a wide range of areas in which we are cooperating – ranging from political engagement to trade and investment ties, development partnership, defence and security cooperation and people to people relations. Maintaining the momentum of such a wide-ranging engagement and deepening it further is clearly my main task.
In specific terms, I would like to deepen our development partnership, which has a long history of almost five decades, to be able to contribute to Vietnam’s development and to reach out to the people of Vietnam in a meaningful way. Better connectivity between our two countries is another priority that would immensely assist in promoting tourism, trade and investment, as well as people-to-people ties. We also look forward to further deepening our defence partnership, which has today diversified from traditional contact between our two militaries to newer areas such as defence industry and technology cooperation. During my tenure, Vietnam will be the Chair of ASEAN as well as a member of the UN Security Council. This allows us significant opportunities for closer consultations on regional and international issues of common interest. I also look forward to greater engagement between India and Vietnam in practical regional cooperation under the rubric of India’s Indo-Pacific vision.
2. Currently, India is among the top ten trading partners of Vietnam. However, the bilateral trade turnover of the two countries is just around US$ 10.69 in 2018 as per the Vietnamese figures. In your opinion, what are the measures to achieve the trade target of US$ 15 billion set by the leadership of both countries?
Ans: Closer economic engagement is an important part of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Our trade engagement has grown substantially in recent years, almost doubling in the last three years. As per our statistics, we are about to reach a bilateral trade volume of nearly US$14 billion. We are therefore well on the way to achieve or even exceed the goal of US$15 billion trade that has been set by our leaders. Even if we go by the Vietnamese statistics, given the fact that our trade volume grew by almost 50% last year, we are confident of reaching the goal of US$ 15 billion trade by next year.
3. 2019 is celebrated as the ASEAN-India tourism year. The tourist traffic between both countries is well below the potential. What could be done to increase the tourism between both countries?
Ans: We are keen to promote closer tourism ties between our two countries. We already have over 160,000 tourists visiting each other. The direct air connectivity being launched by airlines from India and Vietnam later this year will be a big boost to tourism, given that there is a natural mutual interest among tourists from both our countries. Our common Buddhist heritage offers a significant tourism attraction and we can build on this theme in a big way. Next week only, we are going to organize a road-show presenting tourism opportunities to Vietnamese tour operators in India. I see a significant uptick in the tourism traffic in both directions in the coming years.
4. Currently, there is a senior delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry visiting HCM city? What is the objective of their visit?
Ans: The visit of the delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry exemplifies the keenness among the Indian business and industry for closer trade and investment ties with Vietnam. The delegation includes representation from a diverse range of industry, including aviation, pharmaceuticals, IT, manufacturing, infrastructure, renewable energy, etc. This wide range of business interest shows the tremendous potential that exists to take our economic engagement to a new level in the coming years. Our businesses are keen to partner with Vietnam that takes full advantage of our economic complementarities.
5. Which industry in Vietnam you think has potential in attracting Indian investment in years to come?
Ans: Indian investment has been steadily growing in Vietnam, as our investors are looking for newer opportunities in partner countries. Today, if you include investment routed through third country, Indian investment in Vietnam has reached $1.7 billion. Given India’s strengths and the demands in Vietnam, I consider major potential for Indian investments in areas such as energy including renewable energy, IT, infrastructure development, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, textiles, agro-processing and defence manufacturing. In pharmaceuticals, our EXIM Bank is engaged in a pre-feasibility study for developing a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in Vietnam. In the IT sector, India’s HCL is seeking to invest $650 million for an IT centre in Ho Chi Minh City that will generate more than 10,000 local jobs. Similarly, in defence industry, we have already started cooperating in ship building, which is only a beginning to more such opportunities.
6. How about Vietnamese investment in India?
Ans: India is looking to making investment – both domestic and foreign – as a major driver of growth in the next five years. We would be very happy to welcome investment from a friendly and capable partner such as Vietnam. Today, Vietnamese investment in India is not very large and amounts to around $30 million based on our data, mostly in pharmaceuticals. Vietnamese investors can find significant opportunities in India in areas such as textiles, leathers, IT, chemicals, building materials, etc.
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