Viet Nam News
Ambassador of India to Viet Nam Parvathaneni Harish sends a message on India’s Independence Day (August 15).
It gives me immense pleasure to greet Indian citizens and friends of India on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of India’s Independence, an event which changed the course of 20th century.
Mahatma Gandhi’s example as the leader of India’s freedom struggle inspired the long-suppressed peoples of Asia and Africa and freedom movements worldwide, including the Vietnamese freedom struggle led by President Ho Chi Minh.
Our civilisational relationship transcends the modern era. It is over two thousand years old and began when Indian traders and Buddhist monks landed on the shores of Viet Nam with goods to exchange and with Buddha’s message of compassion and peace.
Earlier this year, we concluded the Year of Friendship commemorating the 45th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of our Strategic Partnership.
Taking forward the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Viet Nam in 2016, in January 2018 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited India for the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and as Chief Guest at our Republic Day celebrations.
Later in March, President Tran Dai Quang undertook a State visit to India, leading a high-level political and business delegation.
These visits, along with the visit of our Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in June, have given a new road map to our growing multifaceted ties and strengthened economic engagement, defence and security partnerships and cultural and people to people relations – all important elements of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Our leaders have identified strong economic engagement as key to our relationship and have set an ambitious trade target of US$15 billion by the year 2020.
It is a matter of satisfaction that our trade has increased from US$7.8 billion in 2015-16 to US$12.8 billion in 2017-18.
We remain committed to achieve the trade target, lower trade barriers and enhance market access.
Indian business and industry is excited about new investment opportunities in Viet Nam, especially in traditional and renewable energy, energy conservation, agriculture and agro-industry, textiles and engineering sectors.
New partnerships are being forged in the services sector, communication and information technology, scientific research, technological development and academic collaboration.
India’s development partnership activities in Viet Nam over the last four decades have focused on human resource development and institution building and have left a lasting imprint on agriculture and food security, engineering and industry and public administration.
Numerous short term training programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC) and Scholarships offered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) are ongoing and have had a visible impact.
The cultural connections between our societies and peoples are a vital element of our engagement.
The Archaeological Survey of India has completed the second year of its conservation and restoration project at the Cham temples of My Son, contributing to the preservation of our joint cultural heritage.
For the third year in a row, I was surprised by the enthusiasm and passion of thousands of Vietnamese friends who performed yoga at the International Day of Yoga celebrations across the country. Yoga is a strong binding cultural element between our people and I am happy that the yoga classes at the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Ha Noi have been able to carry the uplifting and calming message of yoga to hundreds of new Vietnamese yoga students.
It is also a matter of satisfaction that Government of India and Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti have been able to provide the world famous Jaipur Foot artificial limb fitments to over 500 Vietnamese beneficiaries in Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho provinces in the last month, transforming their lives and enabling their livelihoods.
For India, ASEAN is at the heart of our ‘Act East’ policy. Viet Nam has facilitated the India-ASEAN engagement as our country coordinator during the last three years and played an important role in ensuring successful outcomes of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit.
Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie at the heart of bringing about greater security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region for our common pursuit of progress and prosperity.
I thank the leadership, government and people of Viet Nam for their friendship towards India and Indian people and their commitment to our partnership.
Long live India-Viet Nam friendship! — VNS