President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan had meetings with a number of Indian officials on March 20 a s part of his on-going official friendly visit to India.
During his reception for VFF President Nhan, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari highlighted the development of the traditional friendship and the strategic partnership between the two nations, especially in politics, economics, trade investment and security-defence.
However, he noted that there is still great potential for boosting trade cooperation between the two countries, saying that the two sides should focus on removing trade barriers to make their trade links stronger in the future.
Vietnam and India became the important trade partner of each other, with two-way trade hitting 5.7 billion USD in 2014, Nhan said, adding that bilateral trade is expected to reach 7 billion USD this year.
According to Nhan, the two sides seek opportunities for cooperation through a meeting with Vietnamese and Indian businesses in New Delhi on March 21, aiming to step up bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the time ahead.
While briefing the host on the VFF’s function, Vietnam’s recent socio-economic development as well as the country’s role in ASEAN, the VFF leader affirmed that Vietnam is willing to act as a bridge to link India and other ASEAN member states.
In his meeting with Indian Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Lower House) Sumitra Mahajan, Nhan expressed his hope that in her position, Mahajan will continue supporting and doing her utmost to enhance the Vietnam-India Strategic Partnership as well as the ties between the two legislatures in particular.
He said the two countries’ legislative bodies will boost ties by increasing all-level visit exchanges and sharing experience in law-making as well as exchanges between parliamentarian groups, contributing to fostering the bilateral relations.
Mahajan spoke highly of the growing relations between Vietnam and India, and their legislatures, while expressing her joy of her upcoming visit to Vietnam to attend the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132) Assembly.
While meeting with Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, VFF President Nhan asserted that Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening relations with India, and supports India’s Act East Policy as well as the country’s greater role in the region and the world.
In reply, the Indian minister said that Vietnam is one of his country’s crucial partners, adding that India is willing to back Vietnam’s development cause and continue promoting ties with Vietnam in all fields.
