According to the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh will pay a State visit to India from July 30 to August 1, 2024.
On this occasion, Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Thanh Binh answered the press about Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's State visit to India:
Could you please tell us the significance of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's State visit to India?
Vietnam and India have a traditional and close-knit relationship, which was nurtured by President Ho Chi Minh and previous Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawarhalal Nehru and generations of leaders and people of the two countries.
In 2016, the two countries established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework. This was the first visit by the Prime Ministers of both sides after establishing the new framework. The Prime Minister of our Government was one of the first foreign leaders invited to visit India after India elected a new House of Representatives and a new Government. The visit also took place at the right time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement, in which India played a very important role in supporting the negotiation and signing of this Agreement.
In the above context, this visit of the Prime Minister is of great significance, aiming to affirm Vietnam's consistent policy of attaching importance to the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with India, contributing to tightening the relationship between the leaders of the two countries, especially between the two Prime Ministers. The visit was carefully and respectfully prepared by both sides, with a rich program, extensive and substantive content, with the main focus being to further deepen the Vietnam - India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in all fields, responding to changes in the current geopolitical - economic situation; on the one hand, consolidating traditional areas of cooperation, while at the same time expanding to areas where both sides have potential and strengths such as electronics, telecommunications, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, green economy, digital economy, AI, semiconductors, new materials, essential minerals, etc.
The visit is also an opportunity for the two countries to increase sharing on regional and international security and strategic issues and affirm mutual support in multilateral forums of mutual interest.
Could you please assess the relationship between the two countries in recent times, including cooperation in the fields of trade and investment?
The Vietnam-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has developed positively with a solid foundation of relations and high political trust. Relations between the Party, State, National Assembly and people have been expanded, with regular visits and contacts at all levels and channels. Dialogue cooperation mechanisms, specialized cooperation subcommittees, etc. have been maintained and promoted effectively.
Defense and security cooperation is an important pillar and at a strategic level with the two countries signing the Joint Vision Statement on Defense Partnership and the Memorandum of Understanding on Logistics Support (June 2022), cooperation in training, defense industry cooperation, sending naval ships to visit, providing credit packages and non-refundable aid.
Economically, two-way trade turnover has increased 2.5 times since the two countries upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2016), reaching nearly 15 billion in 2023. The two countries still have a lot of potential in trade and investment cooperation with many strengths such as the world's most populous market and dynamic economic development. Large Indian corporations are promoting cooperation with Vietnam in strategic areas such as renewable energy, processing industry, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, port infrastructure, and logistics. On our side, Vinfast Group has started construction of an automobile assembly and manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu state, with a committed capital of 2 billion USD.
Cooperation in the fields of science - technology, information - communication, education - training, culture - tourism has all developed positively. Currently, there are more than 50 direct flights between the two countries every week; India is in the top 3 countries with the highest growth rate of tourists to Vietnam, the number of Indian tourists to Vietnam in the past 4 years has increased 2.5 times (from 170,000 in 2019 to 400,000 in 2023). In the past 10 years, India has granted Vietnam nearly 3,000 short-term and long-term scholarships in various programs. In addition, the Indian Government has supported the implementation of the project to restore, embellish and restore groups of towers at the My Son World Cultural Heritage, Quang Nam province.
The two countries are promoting and strengthening cooperation in new potential fields such as renewable energy, semiconductor chips, innovation, green economy, digital transformation and information technology, smart agriculture and pharmaceuticals, etc.
The two countries also closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the United Nations and at regional forums led by ASEAN.
It can be said that the Vietnam - India relationship has developed comprehensively and expanded in most areas in recent times and has much potential and opportunity to further promote in the coming time.
Thank you very much, Deputy Minister!
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