India will always stand by Vietnam: Pranab

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SME Times News Bureau | 18 Sep, 2014
India has always stood by Vietnam and will continue to do so, President Pranab Mukherjee said Wednesday, and expressed confidence their strategic partnership will steadily augment and they will provide stability and growth to the region and the world.

The president, reading out a statement on his state visit to Vietnam, said he was "greatly moved" by his experiences during his stay.

"Yesterday (Tuesday), at the War Remnants Museum, I saw a poster of 1966 proclaiming the support of the Indian people for the Vietnamese people in their struggle for freedom.

"India has always stood by and supported the people of Vietnam. We were with them then, we are with them now and we will continue to stand strongly with Vietnam in the future. Vietnam has in India a dependable and trustworthy partner.

"The people of India, irrespective of differences in political conviction or affiliation remain strong votaries of friendship with Vietnam," he said, expressing his confidence that the relations will grow from "strength to strength" and their strategic partnership will be "deepened and expanded".

Mukherjee said he was certain that as "two of the fastest growing economies of Asia", they will provide "stability and growth" to the region and the world.

The president told accompanying journalists in a media interaction during the return flight that his visits to the museum as well as the Cu Chi tunnel complex outside Ho Chi Minh City had convinced him of the "determination and strength of character" of the Vietnamese people, and this also explained their economic progress.

"There has been steady GDP growth and though they started (liberalisation) late in 1991, they have brought down the poverty rate from 50 percent to 10 percent now," he said.

"This shows the strength of their economy," he said.

The president also noted that the poster he saw in the museum had been printed in then Calcutta by the Indian Communist party.

In his statement, he said he and his delegation were "overwhelmed by the affection, hospitality and warmth" of the reception extended to them, the "across the board a deep-seated desire for closer interaction" and were returning "impressed by the commitment of the Vietnamese government to take the relation to new heights".

He said political relations have always been "strong and cloudless" but it was now time to focus with "renewed energy and fresh determination on strengthening economic engagement, connectivity, and people to people exchanges, especially among the youth.

During the visit that took Mukherjee to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, India and Vietnam called for a peaceful, unfettered South China Sea, and inked seven agreements including for direct Delhi-Hanoi flights and an extended line of credit for purchase of military equipment.

Both countries also set a target of $15 billion bilateral trade by 2020.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is set to visit India in October at the head of a large business delegation to explore further opportunities for economic cooperation.

A joint communique following the talks said Mukherjee and his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang agreed to strengthen and deepen bilateral cooperation on the basis of the strategic partnership, with focus on political, defence and security cooperation, economic cooperation, science and technology, culture and people-to-people links, technical cooperation and multilateral and regional cooperation.