| National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong will pay official visits to India and Indonesia from February 23 to March 3. The visits are at the invitation of Speaker of the Indian House of the People (the Lok Sabha) Meira Kumar and Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Marzuki Alie. The visits are intended to foster the traditional friendship between the Vietnamese and both Indians and Indonesians respectively, as well as promote all-round cooperative relations especially in economics, trade and investment to new levels that match the fine political ties and the desires of the people. India is Vietnam ’s important partner within the East Asian cooperation framework. The Indian people supported Vietnam ’s past struggles for national independence and unification and its economic development during the renewal process. The regular exchanges of visits by the two countries’ senior leaders, the official establishment of strategic partnership and bilateral cooperative mechanisms, the signing of a number of cooperation agreements and mutual assistance at international and regional forums have confirmed both sides’ mutual respect and determination to further develop the traditional friendship. Vietnam always attaches importance to further consolidate and develop its relations with India─ a time-honoured friend and influential partner in the region. Meanwhile, with “Look East” policy, India lays stress on accelerating its ties with regional neighbouring countries and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Vietnam . Over the past 40 years of diplomatic ties, the two countries’ relationship has been broadened in many fields bringing practical results in both countries’ construction and development. Each year, India provides more than 100 scholarships to Vietnamese students to study agriculture, information technology, English and remote sensing within the cooperation framework. Apart from provision of preferential credits, India has been actively assisting and cooperating with Vietnam in science-technology, human resource development for the software industry and animal and plant breeding among other fields. The regular cultural exchanges have helped boost the two peoples’ mutual understanding and tighten the solidarity and friendship. Meanwhile, Indonesia is Vietnam ’s time-honoured friend in Southeast Asia . Since the two countries established their diplomatic ties in 1955, Vietnam and Indonesia have signed more than 20 cooperation agreements in economics, trade and consular affairs. The two countries have set up the friendly comprehensive cooperative framework entering the 21 st century. The two nations are ready to help each other during natural disasters and have assisted each other in international and regional forums. Vietnam and Indonesia have enhanced cooperation in the fields that are both countries’ strengths including seafood, oil and gas, coal mining, agriculture and tourism./. | |
