Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received in Hanoi on Sept. 16 Indian Foreign Minister S.M Krishna, affirming Vietnam’s efforts to deepen the Vietnam-India strategic partnership.

The PM said he wished the two sides would effectively implement bilateral agreements and join hands to prepare for the upcoming official visit to India by State President Truong Tan Sang, during which many important agreements were expected to be signed, bringing the two countries’ relations to a new level.

He spoke highly of the 14 th session of the Vietnam - India Joint Committee on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation held in Hanoi on the same day, saying that its results would make a strong contribution to promoting the two countries’ relations, particularly in trade, investment, science and technology.

According to the PM, two-way trade is likely to reach 3 billion USD in 2011 and 7 billion USD by 2015, and investment is being developed, but was still moderate compared with its potential.

At the reception, PM Dung extended his invitation to his Indian counterpart to visit Vietnam and thanked the Indian Government for its assistance to build a high-quality information and technology centre, saying that Vietnam wanted to receive more help from India and increase cooperation between the two countries at international forums.

Foreign Minister Krishna affirmed that India attached importance to developing the strategic partnership with Vietnam .

He said the 14 th session of the Vietnam - India Joint Committee discussed measures to promote bilateral cooperation in security and defence, economic trade, investment, culture and science and technology.

The Foreign Minister said that during his current visit to Vietnam , the two sides inaugurated the Indian Government-funded high quality information and communication technology human resource centre (ARC-ICT), prepared for the launch of an Indian culture centre in Hanoi and assisted a project to restore the Cham tower at My Son, in Quang Nam province. They also discussed preparations for celebrations of the 40 th anniversary of Vietnam-India diplomatic ties.

Also the same day, the opening ceremony for a high quality ITC human resource centre between Vietnam and India was held in Hanoi .

The modern centre was equipped with laboratories and study rooms, digital classrooms and library, and database and web technology.

India’s Foreign Minister S.M.Krishna said that the 2 million USD project will become the largest in terms of India’s bilateral cooperation with Vietnam and it was a symbol of India’s strategic partnership with Vietnam./.