Get-together fosters Vietnam-India strategic partnership
VOV.VN - The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Vietnam-India Friendship Association in Can Tho held a meeting on September 29 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The purpose of the event was to highlight the significance and importance of maintaining and consolidating ties of traditional friendship, as well as the strategic partnership which exists between local people from both Vietnam and India, especially among the young generation.
Madan Mohan Sethi, consul general of India in Ho Chi Minh City, said that bilateral co-operation has developed strongly, with two-way trade rising from US$200 million in 2000 to US$12.04 billion in 2019. However, this figure dropped to just over US$10 billion in the 2020 to 2021 period due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two countries are currently striving to boost this figure to US$14 billion moving forward, he added.
Huynh Van Nghiep, president of the Vietnam-India Friendship Association in Can Tho, said that the association has closely co-ordinated efforts with the Indian Consulate General to arrange a wide range of economic and cultural co-operation activities and people-to-people exchanges.
During the COVID-19 outbreak which hit India, agencies in the Mekong Delta city called on organisations and individuals to assist the Indian people in combatting the pandemic, while Can Tho received plenty of assistance from India in fields such as agriculture and information technology, he highlighted. Indeed, these activities greatly contributed to developing the bilateral friendship.
The same day saw Sethi received by Nguyen Thuc Hien, vice chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, who affirmed that relevant authorities and local people view the traditional friendship and solidarity with Indian citizens as an important factor in international relations which safeguards mutual development.