VietNamNet Bridge – The recent visit to India by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has been a success, deepening the strategic partnership between the two nations and driving their cooperation in a more practical and effective way.

Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Hoang Binh Quan. (Photo: VNA)

In an interview granted to the press at the end of the visit, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, Hoang Binh Quan, praised the progress made. He said the long-standing Vietnam – India ties fostered by President Ho Chi Minh and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and nurtured by generations of leaders were lifted to a strategic partnership level in 2007 and have come a long way across diverse areas.

As the world’s second most populous country with great economic potential and an advanced hi-tech sector, India has become a country of great stature with an important role in Asia and the world at large.

India is actively rolling out its “Look East” policy, under which Vietnam is one of the top priorities. For this reason, the consolidation of the Vietnam – India links is an objective requirement that meets aspirations of their people and contributes to each side’s development as well as peace and cooperation in the region, Quan said.

He stressed that during talks and meetings between General Secretary Trong and Indian leaders, both sides agreed to foster a close and trustworthy political relationship, considering it as a key pillar and foundation for bilateral strategic partnership.

The two sides expressed their strong will to boost result-oriented economic ties in order to bring two-way trade to 7 billion USD by 2015.

Vietnamese and Indian leaders stressed the importance of the national defence-security pillar in their strategic partnership. Accordingly, cooperation in this field will get stronger.

During the visit, both sides signed eight agreements, with cooperation across culture, tourism, education-training and science-technology being broadened. Meanwhile, links between localities and economic facilities are set to be intensified with more people-to-people exchanges.

Quan also informed that both sides shared similar views on regional and global issues and consented to supporting each other at multilateral forums.

Referring to meetings with major Indian political parties, Quan said the Party chief visited leaders of the Indian National Congress Party, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPI -Marxist and the National People’s Party, during which they talked ways to push forward bilateral ties.

Leaders of the host parties highly valued the Communist Party of Vietnam’s role and vowed to work to strengthen the India – Vietnam strategic partnership.

Quan said that in order to realise the outcomes of the visit, ministries, agencies and localities must actively put cooperation plans with Indian partners in place and direct their implementation.

Source: Vietnam Plus