Mr Dung’s visit was considered a political event of great significance for both Vietnam and India. It paved the way for the two countries to promote bilateral comprehensive cooperation, especially in economics and trade, on the back of the steady development of the traditional friendship between the two nations. 

During his stay in India, wherever he travelled, Mr Dung received warm welcome and hospitality from the Indian leaders and people. Worthy of note was the State-level welcoming ceremony in New Dehli on July 6 given to Mr Dung by Indian PM Manmohan Singh.

During talks and meetings, the Indian leaders, businesses and people recalled Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who made the first steps towards the relationship between the two nations. Upholding that valuable tradition, PM Dung and Mr Singh agreed to strengthen bilateral ties to a strategic partnership and pledged to diversify and deepen it in the new context in all fields of mutual concern.

During the visit, the two countries signed cooperation agreements in economics, culture, science and technology, education and training. They pledged to raise two-way trade to US$5 billion by 2015 and conduct negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) to be signed very soon. 

The prospects for economic, trade and investment cooperation were enhanced at India-Vietnam business forums held in Kolkata, Mumbai and New Dehli with the participation of thousands of leading Indian businesses, including big groups such as Tata, Essar and Relience. The fully occupied conference halls at these forums indicated that Indian businesses are eyeing the Vietnamese market.

Buchen Raina , General Director of the Timplet group said that both Vietnamese and Indian cultures have many things in common. With its rapid and steady economic growth, political stability and transparent and open policies, Vietnam has emerged as an attractive investment option in the region. The presence of many Indian businesses at the forums showed that they are paying interest to Vietnam, given their colleagues’ successful operations in the Southeast Asian country over the past years.

During the visit, the two countries’ business circles explored cooperation opportunities and signed contracts worth US$4 billion. More importantly, Vietnamese businesses had a chance to learn from their Indian partners’ experience and their ability to utilise advanced technology.

Le Van An, director general of the Irrigation, Agriculture and Electrical Engineering company signed a US$300 million contract with Athena group to develop power plants in central Ha Tinh, Quang Nam and Kon Tum provinces. This group has successfully built hydro-electric power plants with a design capacity of up to 3,000MW.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) group penned a US$20 million deal with Aptech group to develop 20 more training centres and train 25,000 more programmers over the next three years in Vietnam.