The Indian Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Today magazine released a special issue on September 15 highlighting the India-Vietnam ties on the occasion of Indian President Pranab’s strategic visit to Vietnam from September 14-17.

The magazine featured a number of photographs of high-level meetings and the countries’ landscapes, and a dozen articles written by leading experts from research institutes and universities, as well as the President of the India-Vietnam Solidarity Committee in the state of West Bengal.

The articles analysed the traditional friendship between India and Vietnam and highlighted the two countries’ potentials in the rapidly changing regional and global context.

Most notably, the magazine published the entire Vietnam–India Joint Statement on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s State visit to Vietnam and the full text of the interview he granted to the Vietnam News Agency in New Delhi before his trip.

Scholar Manish Chand wrote in his article “India-Vietnam: old friends, new vistas” that the multifaceted relationship between India and Vietnam is becoming deeper by the day and branching out in new directions. In many ways, he said, it is a perfect match between India’s Look East policy and Vietnam’s Look West policy, as the two countries aim to forge closer strategic, economic and energy ties in the near future.

Meanwhile, Prof. Baladas Ghoshal stated in his piece “Vietnam in the light of India’s Look East Policy” that the successful Vietnam visits of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in August and President Mukherjee at present were all geared towards broadening and deepening the political, economic and strategic relations between the two countries. Furthermore, Ghoshal highlighted the important role Vietnam plays in India’s Look East policy.

In his piece “India and Vietnam: the constantly evolving relationship”, President of the India-Vietnam Solidarity Committee in the state of West Bengal, Greetesh Sharma, hailed the cultural similarities as the foundation for tightened relationship between the two countries.

Other authors spoke highly of the possibilities for the two countries to boost their strategic relationship, particularly in the fields of economics, national defence, security, science-technology, and education and training.

They shared the belief that the launch of a direct air route between India and Vietnam will increase trade and tourism, thus contributing to stronger comprehensive ties.-VNA