Vietnam welcomes and is committed to creating every favourable condition for normal economic cooperation activities between Vietnamese oil and gas companies and their foreign partners, including Indian companies, in the country’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the commitment in his interview granted to The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily, during his official visit to India on October 27-28.

He said that Vietnam and India have been cooperating in oil and gas exploration and extraction since 1988. Bilateral cooperation in this area has been increasingly growing. Indian companies such as ESSAR and the Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corporation are active and effective partners of Vietnam .

”We will continue to create favorable conditions for and ensure the interests of Indian companies active in this field,” he stressed.

According to PM Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnam and India enjoy a time-honored and sound traditional friendship and close bonds, which were founded by President Ho Chi Minh and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and have been nurtured and fostered by the leaders and people of both countries through generations.

The political ties between the two countries have been increasingly strengthened on the basis of mutual trust given by the exchange of visits and meetings at all levels and through all channels.

Since the establishment of a Strategic Partnership in 2007, the bilateral friendship and cooperation have seen rapid growth, particularly in politics, trade and investment, defense-security, science-technology, culture and education.

The two countries have become each other's important economic partners, and are striving to achieve the targeted two-way trade of 7 billion USD by 2015 and 15 billion USD by 2020.

VNA/VNN