HCM City get-together marks India’s Republic Day
VOV.VN - The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations (HUFO) held a get-together on February 2 to celebrate India’s Republic Day (January 26).
In his address, Huynh Thanh Lap, chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s Vietnam - India Friendship Association, highlighted the significance of India’s Republic Day on January 26, 1950 when the Constitution of the Republic of India came into effect, and said this is an important historical milestone of the Indian people, creating the foundation for the development of India, a world power today.
He reviewed major developments in the Vietnam – India relationship over the past five decades, especially since the two countries upgraded their relationship to the level of strategic partnership in 2007 and comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016.
The Vietnam - India relations have gone through a long journey, reaping many great achievements in major pillars of bilateral cooperation such as politics - diplomacy, defense - security, trade - investment, science - technology, culture and people-to-people exchanges, he said.
He thanked Lap the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City and the Indian Business Association in Vietnam for successfully organizing activities in 2022 to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and India, and expressed his desire to receive continued support from the Consulate General in future people-to-people exchanges, contributing to enhancing the friendship between the two countries.
Madan Mohan Sethi, consul general of India in Ho Chi Minh City, for his part, expressed his delight at the positive development of the India-Vietnam relations in recent years, especially in the fields of economy, education, and tourism. H noted the two-way trade turnover between the two countries reached more than US$15 billion last year, and both sides are striving to realise of the goal of raising their trade to US$20 billion by 2025. Meanwhile, 120,000 Indian tourists came to Vietnam and more than 20,000 Vietnamese people came to India in the second half of 2022 alone.
The Consulate General of India will work closely with the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organizations to organize more people-to-people exchange programmes and connect their business communities so as to promote cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, health care and education, said Madan Mohan Sethi.