Vietnam attracts Indian businesses and tourists

With the adoption of a joint statement on strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's state visit to India opened a new chapter in the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in many fields.

Indian tourists take a boat ride on the Venice River at Grand World (Phu Quoc) - Photo: TTD

Along with the solemn welcoming ceremony held at the Presidential Palace, the talks between the two Prime Ministers of Vietnam and India achieved many important results. At the press conference co-chaired by the two Prime Ministers, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that it was a higher level of political and strategic trust cooperation, including increased annual exchanges and contacts between the two countries, and comprehensive promotion of 11 areas of cooperation. Vietnam is an important partner of the Act East strategy. Defense and security cooperation is more open and deeper; the vision and actions of economic, trade and investment cooperation are more substantial and effective, aiming to double the two-way trade and investment turnover in the next 3-5 years; cooperation in science and technology, innovation becomes a stronger driving force. Promoting scientific research, atomic energy, rare earth, renewable energy, new technology fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, etc.; Cultural cooperation, tourism and people-to-people exchanges are more closely connected; cultural, civilizational, historical and religious connections between the two countries are strengthened. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assessed: "Vietnam is an important partner of the Act East strategy. Vietnam and India share a common vision, supporting developmentism, not expansionism. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit has opened a new chapter for the bilateral relationship". Mr. Modi also provided detailed information on future cooperation directions. That is the approval of a credit package of 300 million USD for maritime cooperation, strengthening cooperation in counter-terrorism and cyber security. The central banks of the two countries are connected on electronic payments. Focusing on emerging areas such as green economy, agreeing to leverage each other's strengths to connect businesses of the two countries... Talking to Tuoi Tre, Ms. Le Thi Hang Nga - an expert on India at the Institute of South Asia, West Asia and Africa Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences - assessed that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to India took place at a great time to create a boost for Vietnam - India relations. Because India has just gone through a general election, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered its third term. According to Ms. Nga, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is the first ASEAN leader to be invited to India since the Indian Prime Minister began his third term, demonstrating India's respect for Vietnam in its foreign policy. "Economic, trade and investment relations will be further promoted through meetings with Indian business leaders," Ms. Nga assessed. Mr. Indronil Sengupta, Chairman of the Indian Business Association in Vietnam (InCham), said that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit has created many expectations in enhancing cooperation and promoting investment and trade between Vietnam and India. "We look forward to some commitments to improve the legal framework and reduce obstacles, making it easier for businesses to operate and invest," Mr. Sengupta said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to visit India - Photo: VGP

Barriers still need to be removed

According to Mr. Sengupta, tourism is poised to become an important industry as in the first 6 months of 2024, Vietnam welcomed 231,000 Indian tourists, an increase of 164% over the same period in 2023. In particular, some Indian billionaires have chosen scenic locations in Vietnam to hold their weddings, contributing to further boosting the local economy. However, the InCham chairman said that to take advantage of these opportunities, it is necessary to address a number of challenges such as accessing market information, policy information, resolving complicated investment regulations, legal issues, simplifying administrative procedures, improving human resource quality, etc. Mr. Pham Sanh Chau, General Director of VinFast Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Trading Company India, said that VinFast started construction of a factory in India last May, and is expected to put the factory into operation in the first half of 2025. Therefore, Mr. Chau expressed his hope that the Prime Minister's visit will create momentum to promote economic cooperation between the two countries. To benefit from the Indian Government's long-term incentives for electric vehicles, Mr. Chau affirmed that he will focus on accelerating the construction of the factory with a designed capacity of 50,000 vehicles/year in phase 1 to promote green mobility in India and contribute to the Indian Government's efforts to popularize electric mobility. Meanwhile, the leader of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Vietnam and India both have high demand for each other's goods. Vietnam can supply India with a variety of goods, from agricultural and aquatic products, spices for consumption and export production; machinery, equipment, spare parts, electronic equipment, to consumer products, handicrafts... "On the contrary, India is a source of raw materials for Vietnam's domestic manufacturing industries such as textiles, footwear; pharmaceuticals; components, spare parts; animal feed and raw materials for animal feed production; minerals...", he said.

Calling on Indian tech billionaires to invest in Vietnam

According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam and India have adopted a joint statement on strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. In which the two Prime Ministers agreed to implement strong measures towards the goal of doubling two-way trade and investment turnover by 2030... Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that India consider the proposal of Vietnamese enterprises to issue new/extend the Certificate of Indian Standards (BIS) for imported goods from Vietnam, soon sign an agreement on e-commerce, a bilateral trade agreement to fully exploit the retail market in line with new trends. In particular, the Prime Minister encouraged large corporations and technology billionaires of India to invest in Vietnam, creating large projects that are symbolic of economic cooperation between the two countries, welcoming the shift in supply chains and helping the two countries better participate in the global supply chain. The two leaders also proposed expanding cooperation in the fields of science and technology, especially in the fields of core technology, semiconductor chips, artificial intelligence and cooperation in innovation, rare earth mining and processing technology, cooperation in developing the information technology industry and training human resources for the information technology industry in each country, soon moving towards establishing a digital partnership forum and signing a digital partnership agreement...

Lien Chieu Port (Da Nang) is being urgently constructed - Photo: DOAN CUONG

* Mr. Bui Duc Loi (Director of Hoa Cam Industrial Park Investment Joint Stock Company, Da Nang):

Good news for Da Nang

The fact that India's Adani Group expressed its desire to invest more than 2 billion USD to build a complete smart port in Lien Chieu is a good sign for Da Nang, after the National Assembly passed a resolution allowing Da Nang to become a free trade zone associated with Lien Chieu port. In my opinion, with the potential and experience of this investor, the project's progress will be ensured and the success rate will be increased, contributing to the development of Da Nang into a maritime economic center, forming a logistics service supply chain in the Central region. The interest of this investor shows the growing attraction of Vietnam in general and Da Nang in particular. However, there is not much land left in Da Nang, so I hope that foreign enterprises will invest in the spirit of "say and do" as shared by the Prime Minister and also hope that this is a "smart port" project as committed by the investor.

Vietnam - India trade exchange increases sharply

According to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, trade between Vietnam and India has increased more than 60 times, from 200 million USD in 2000 to over 14.36 billion USD in 2023, making India Vietnam's 8th largest trading partner. In the first 6 months of 2024, two-way import-export turnover is estimated at 7.18 billion USD, of which export turnover from Vietnam to India is estimated at 4.37 billion USD. Items with large export turnover include phones of all kinds and components, computers, electronic products and components, machinery, equipment, other spare parts, chemicals, coffee... On the contrary, Vietnam imports the most from India are iron and steel of all kinds, pharmaceuticals...

Propose to continue supporting Vietnam with preferential credit packages

On the afternoon of August 1 (local time), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with President Droupadi Murmu. At the meeting, President Droupadi Murmu emphasized that Vietnam and India have a long-standing traditional friendship, which has been nurtured by generations of leaders and people of the two countries. President Droupadi Murmu highly appreciated the results of the talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially the two sides' adoption of a joint statement on strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and deepening cooperation areas on the basis of "Five More". The President believes that the documents signed on this occasion will be actively implemented by both sides. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and asked the President to continue to pay attention to and support the Vietnam - India relationship, especially defense cooperation, continue to support Vietnam with preferential credit packages...; encourage the implementation of measures to achieve the goal of doubling two-way trade, investment, tourism...

Indian tourists increasingly like to travel to Vietnam

Indian tourists come to Ho Chi Minh City under the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and tourism) program - Photo: TTD

India is not only the fastest growing tourist market in Vietnam, but Indian tourists are also very willing to spend, staying longer than many other markets. Recently, the number of luxury tourists and Indian billionaires looking for new experiences on special occasions such as weddings, wedding anniversaries, honeymoons, etc. have chosen Vietnam is increasing. According to a representative of Danang Marriott Resort & Spa, the number of Indian guests staying on average 2-3 nights/person, spending quite well, especially business guests. In early 2024, this resort was chosen by an Indian couple as the venue for a wedding with a scale of 250 guests, lasting for many days with many solemn and magnificent ceremonies. In 2023, Vietnam welcomed more than 392,000 Indian visitors, an increase of 231% compared to 2019. In the first 7 months of 2024, the number of Indian visitors continued to grow by 27%, reaching 272,000 visitors, ranking in the top 10 largest markets sending visitors to Vietnam. The image of Indian tourists traveling with multi-generational families and groups of friends to famous tourist destinations such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang... has become familiar to local people. Right at Ben Thanh market (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), vendors are also familiar with the shopping style of Indian tourists. Vendor Tai Duc said that customers come to shop, sightsee and... bargain. "Indian tourists often buy a lot of coffee, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts... In addition, they also buy a lot of souvenirs. Tourists from this market also often buy by word of mouth, meaning if they find the product delicious and at a good price, they will introduce their friends to buy and buy more," said this trader. Large 4-5 star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City are also changing to welcome the wave of Indian tourists. According to a representative of Kim Do - Royal Hotel Saigon, Indian tourists always request to be served Indian cuisine, so having Indian dishes available on the menu or a separate dining area with food prepared according to Halal standards makes Indian tourists very satisfied.

According to the Kien Giang Department of Tourism, in the first 6 months of 2024, Phu Quoc welcomed 17,679 Indian tourists. In 2023, Phu Quoc welcomed 32,772 Indian tourists. Ms. Quang Xuan Lua, Director of the Kien Giang Province Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center, said that in recent years, Phu Quoc has become a destination chosen by many Indian tourists, especially Indian billionaire couples who also come to Phu Quoc Island to hold weddings. "This is the special highlight that Kien Giang is aiming for to build Phu Quoc into an ideal and attractive destination when welcoming many Indian, Korean, Russian billionaires... to organize events," Ms. Lua said.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/viet-nam-hap-dan-doanh-nghiep-du-khach-an-do-20240802084806768.htm