Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (Photo: VNA) Vietnam and India established diplomatic ties in 1972and elevated the relationship to the comprehensive strategic partnership in2016. They are working to implement an action programme materialising the partnershipfor 2021-2023.
The two sides have maintained all-level delegationexchanges, including the visits to Vietnam by Prime Minister Narendra Modi inSeptember 2016, President Ram Nath Kovind in November 2018 and Vice President VenkaiahNaidu in May 2019. Meanwhile, then NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan visitedIndia in December 2016, then Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the ASEAN-IndiaCommemorative Summit in January 2018, and then President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh paida visit to India in February 2020.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sideshave engaged in online talks. NA Chairman Hue also met with Speaker of the LokSabha (House of Representatives) of India Om Birla as part of his trip toattend the fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP5) in Vienna,Austria last September.
India is one of the 10 biggest partners of Vietnam,with two-way trade reaching 9.67 billion USD last year, and nearly 11 billionUSD as of October 2021.
By October, India ranked 26th out of 140 countries andterritories investing in Vietnam with 310 projects worth some 910 million USD,mainly in energy, mining, agricultural processing, sugar, tea, coffee, agriculturalchemicals, IT and auto spare parts.
Vietnam also invested in nine projects in India withtotal capital of nearly 6.03 million USD.
Progress has been made in collaboration ineducation-training, tourism and other spheres like agriculture, energy,development cooperation, science-technology, information and communications,natural resources and environment.
Notably, the two countries have provided mutualsupport during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the achievements, they are closely coordinatingto organise activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of thebilateral diplomatic ties in 2022.
Over the past years, the bilateral parliamentary tieshave been consolidated, significantly contributing to enhancing the traditionalfriendship and comprehensive strategic partnership.
The Vietnamese legislature and India’s Lok Sabha(House of Representatives) signed a cooperation agreement on the occasion ofthe visit to India by then NA Chairwoman Ngan in 2016.
NA Chairman Hue’s visit is made at the invitations of Speakerof the Lok Sabha (House of Representatives) Om Birla, and Chairman ofthe Rajya Sabha (Upper House) Venkaiah Naidu.
Chairman of the NA Committee for External Relations VuHai Ha said during the visit, the two sides are scheduled to talk issuesregarding COVID-19 vaccines and drugs.
The visit will offer a good opportunity for leaders of thetwo countries to seek solutions to strengthen the bilateral relations, he said./.
VNA
