HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam and India can cooperate in areas of strength such asagriculture, textiles, footwear, renewable energy, and pharmaceuticals,according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Speakingat a seminar titled Vietnam-India Trade, Business and EconomicOutlook held by the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam (INCHAM) in Ho ChiMinh City on July 4, Do Quoc Hung, Director of the ministry’s Africa-Asia MarketDepartment, said “Vietnam could collaborate with and learn from India’sexperience in aquaculture, treatment of the shrimp farming environment,technology transfer, and wind and solar energy development.

“Indiacould learn about agriculture and development of the handicrafts industry from Vietnam,”he said.

Tradebetween the two countries surged from 2.75 billion USD in 2010 to 10.86 billionUSD last year, he said, adding that they target 15 billion USD by 2020.

RajaShekhar, a member of the board of governors, investment and legal, INCHAM,said: “India’s investments in Vietnam are around 1.66 billion USD includinginvestments routed through third countries, but are expected to rise in thecoming years. The major sectors of investment are energy, mineralexploration, agro-processing, sugar manufacturing, agro-chemicals, IT andauto components.”

With thenew Law on Pharmaceuticals and Vietnam’s requirement to increase the use oflocal materials, Indian drug companies are being encouraged to set up plants inVietnam.

Indiancompanies have also made significant investments in wind and solar powerprojects in the country, he said.

K SrikarReddy, Indian Consul General in HCM City, said: “The Indian corporate sectorhas a growing interest in investing in and doing business with Vietnam, bothbilaterally and as a hub for reaching out to East Asia.”

ButIndian investment in Vietnam remains modest compared to its total outboundinvestment.

“Therefore,there is much potential for Indian companies to invest in Vietnam to takeadvantage of the stable political and economic environment, attractiveinvestment policies, cheap labour, availability of raw materials and potentialmarket access due to free trade agreements that Vietnam has concluded recentlysuch as the CPTPP and EU-Vietnam FTA.”

Vo Tri Thanh,a senior expert at the Central Institute for Economic Management, said as atransitional and developing economy Vietnam offers ample business opportunitiesin many sectors like infrastructure, housing, tourism property, smart cities,creative industries, services, healthcare and education.

Vietnamis at a decisive juncture in transforming the paradigm of development, andinteraction between domestic reforms and international integration becomes muchmore profound, he added.

Vietnam’sinvestment in India

Reddysaid Vietnam has eight projects in India with a total investment of 6.16million USD.

“We wantmore Vietnamese companies to explore the gigantic market of 1.3 billion people.

“Indiangrowth presents opportunities for two-way engagement in financial services, IT,digital economy, hydro-carbons, defence, renewable energy, mining, healthcare,tourism and civil aviation.

“We want Vietnamto collaborate with us in our flagship programmes - Make in India, Clean India,Start-up India, and Digital India.” 

India isthe 10th largest trading partner of and 29th largest investor in Vietnam, hesaid.

“I hopeIndia will be among the top five trading partners and top 10 investors in Vietnamin the next few years.”

Theseminar also provided information about the benefits and advantages of Vietnam’seconomy, culture and consumption commonalities between the two countries andthe commitments of the two countries under free trade agreements.

RameshAnand, Incham chairman, said INCHAM acts as a catalyst to promote India-Vietnamtrade and cultural exchanges.-VNS/VNA