Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Hai (7th from right), Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh with staff members of the Vietnamese Embassy in India (Photo: VNA) New Delhi (VNA) – Indian Minister ofState for External Affairs and Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh affirmed that Vietnamis a pillar in India's Act East policy and an important partner of the South Asiancountry in the Indo-Pacific during a ceremony to celebrate the 78th National Day of Vietnam in New Delhi on September 20.
Singh praised Vietnam’s growth and developmentachievements over the past years and expressed his delight at the sustainabledevelopment of traditional relations between India and Vietnam which are basedon solidarity, trust, extensive understanding and similar interests.
Heappreciated achievements that the two countries have obtained in the comprehensive strategic partnership, from political interaction to cooperation in economic development, defence-security, energy and science-technology,culture-education and people-to-people exchanges.
For his part, Vietnamese Ambassador NguyenThanh Hai showed his gratefulness to the Indian Government and people and international friends for their precious support for Vietnam’s struggle forliberation and national reunification in the past as well as the current construction anddevelopment.
Hai highly valued the effective cooperativerelationship between the two countries, affirming that India is one ofVietnam's five comprehensive strategic partners while highlighted that theVietnam-India comprehensive strategic partnership has achieved solid sustainabledevelopment progresses through sound relations in politics, diplomatic affairs,national defence and security cooperation, among others.
Aviation cooperation between the two countries hasseen an exceptional growth with nearly 60 direct flights every week. Vietnamhas become a favourite destination for Indian visitors with 250,000 coming tothe S-shaped country in the first eight months of 2023. Bilateraltrade reached 15 billion USD in 2022 and is expected to rocket in the comingtime as many conglomerates of both sides are seeking investmentopportunities in each other./.
