New Delhi: Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who is on a three-day state visit to India, will meet leaders of major Indian conglomerates, including Gautam Adani – Chairman of the Adani Group, Dharmesh Shah – Founder and Chairman of BDR Pharmaceuticals, and Arun Kumar Singh – Chairman of ONGC, today.
The Vietnamese Prime Minister is on his first state visit to India as the head of the Vietnam government. This is also the first visit to India by a Vietnamese PM in a decade.
PM Chinh will also speak at the Vietnam-India Business Forum today and announce the new Da Nang-Ahmedabad flight, and welcome the 200 millionth passenger of Vietjet Air.
Prime Minister Chinh will also lay flowers at the statue of President Ho Chi Minh, inaugurate the new Vietnamese Embassy headquarters in India, and meet with embassy staff and the Vietnamese community in India in his other engagements today, said Vietnamese news sites.
On August 1, Thursday, the Vietnamese PM will be accorded an official welcome ceremony at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan following which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and witness the signing of cooperation agreements between the two countries.
The two sides are expected to reinforce traditional areas of cooperation while exploring potential fields such as electronics, telecommunications, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, green economy, digital economy, AI, semiconductors, new materials, and essential minerals.
This is also the first visit by a Vietnamese PM to India since the two countries established a new framework for relations – the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016.
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has seen positive developments with a solid foundation and high political trust.
Defence and security remain key pillars, with the two nations signing the Joint Vision Statement on Defence Partnership and the Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Logistics Support in June 2022, as well as defence industry cooperation.
In terms of the economy, bilateral trade has increased 2.5 times since the upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, reaching nearly $15 billion in 2023. By May 2024, bilateral trade stood at nearly $5.94 billion, with Vietnam exporting $3.56 billion to India and importing nearly $2.38 billion from India.
India currently has 380 active investment projects in Vietnam with a total capital of $1.067 billion, ranking 24th out of 144 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
Major Indian corporations, such as the Adani Group, are exploring investment opportunities in Vietnam, especially in infrastructure and renewable energy.
The other fields being explored are pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, and logistics. Cooperation in science and technology, information and communication, education and training, culture and tourism, and people-to-people exchanges has also developed positively, said news sites.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s automaker Vinfast has started construction on a car assembly and production plant in Tamil Nadu state of India, with total committed capital of $2 billion.
The Vietnamese PM arrived in Delhi late last evening and was welcomed by Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita.
The MEA spokesperson in a post on X said:
“Warm welcome to PM Phạm Minh Chinh of Vietnam as he arrives in New Delhi on a State Visit.
“Received by MoS @PmargheritaBJP at the airport.
“India and Vietnam share civilizational links and a longstanding friendship based on mutual trust. The visit will further strengthen our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.”
