Delegates at the seminar titled Vietnam-India Trade, Business and Economic Outlook held by InCham in HCM City on July 4. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam and India can cooperate in areas of strength such as agriculture, textiles, footwear, renewable energy, and pharmaceuticals, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Speaking at a seminar titled Vietnam-India Trade, Business and Economic Outlook held by the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam (INCHAM) in Ho Chi Minh City on July 4, Do Quoc Hung, Director of the ministry’s Africa-Asia Market Department, said “Vietnam could collaborate with and learn from India’s experience in aquaculture, treatment of the shrimp farming environment, technology transfer, and wind and solar energy development.
“India could learn about agriculture and development of the handicrafts industry from Vietnam,” he said.
Trade between the two countries surged from 2.75 billion USD in 2010 to 10.86 billion USD last year, he said, adding that they target 15 billion USD by 2020.
Raja Shekhar, a member of the board of governors, investment and legal, INCHAM, said: “India’s investments in Vietnam are around 1.66 billion USD including investments routed through third countries, but are expected to rise in the coming years. The major sectors of investment are energy, mineral exploration, agro-processing, sugar manufacturing, agro-chemicals, IT and auto components.”
With the new Law on Pharmaceuticals and Vietnam’s requirement to increase the use of local materials, Indian drug companies are being encouraged to set up plants in Vietnam.
Indian companies have also made significant investments in wind and solar power projects in the country, he said.
K Srikar Reddy, Indian Consul General in HCM City, said: “The Indian corporate sector has a growing interest in investing in and doing business with Vietnam, both bilaterally and as a hub for reaching out to East Asia.”
But Indian investment in Vietnam remains modest compared to its total outbound investment.
“Therefore, there is much potential for Indian companies to invest in Vietnam to take advantage of the stable political and economic environment, attractive investment policies, cheap labour, availability of raw materials and potential market access due to free trade agreements that Vietnam has concluded recently such as the CPTPP and EU-Vietnam FTA.”
Vo Tri Thanh, a senior expert at the Central Institute for Economic Management, said as a transitional and developing economy Vietnam offers ample business opportunities in many sectors like infrastructure, housing, tourism property, smart cities, creative industries, services, healthcare and education.
Vietnam is at a decisive juncture in transforming the paradigm of development, and interaction between domestic reforms and international integration becomes much more profound, he added.
Vietnam’s investment in India
Reddy said Vietnam has eight projects in India with a total investment of 6.16 million USD.
“We want more Vietnamese companies to explore the gigantic market of 1.3 billion people.
“Indian growth presents opportunities for two-way engagement in financial services, IT, digital economy, hydro-carbons, defence, renewable energy, mining, healthcare, tourism and civil aviation.
“We want Vietnam to collaborate with us in our flagship programmes - Make in India, Clean India, Start-up India, and Digital India.”
India is the 10th largest trading partner of and 29th largest investor in Vietnam, he said.
“I hope India will be among the top five trading partners and top 10 investors in Vietnam in the next few years.”
The seminar also provided information about the benefits and advantages of Vietnam’s economy, culture and consumption commonalities between the two countries and the commitments of the two countries under free trade agreements.
Ramesh Anand, Incham chairman, said INCHAM acts as a catalyst to promote India-Vietnam trade and cultural exchanges.-VNS/VNA
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