Vietnam and India should foster bilateral investment cooperation to match their real economic potential.

This is the observation of a new online report by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), Ministry of Planning and Investment

According to the report, by the end of January, India had 68 valid projects with total investment of 251.35 million USD in Vietnam, ranking the 30 th among 98 foreign investors in Vietnam .

Most Indian investment is in the form of wholly foreign-invested projects. There are 33 projects in the manufacturing and processing industry worth a total 134.9 million USD, accounting for 53.7 percent of total investment. Another three mining projects with 86 million USD make up 34.3 percent of total investment.

Vietnam has three investment projects in India with total investment of 23.6 million USD. Among them, Rohto Mentholatum Co. Ltd. invests 22.8 million USD in a business venture importing pharmaceutical and food products from other countries to sell in India .

According to FIA Director General Do Nhat Hoang, activities should be held to attract more Indian investment in high-tech industries, software, and electric and electronic industries. Vietnam also encourages Indian investment in energy (coal, wind and nuclear) production.

Vietnam-India economic and investment cooperation is expected to increase after the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement is finalised.-VNA