Vietnam keen on fostering business ties with Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 8 (UNI) A senior diplomat of Vietnam Embassy in New Delhi today called upon Kerala companies to do business in Vietnam and set up joint ventures in areas such as tourism, IT, food processing, plantation and furniture.

Talking at a workshop on 'Opportunities for doing business with Vietnam', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here, Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Minister Councillor, Ton Sinh Thanh said, Kerala could play an important role in promoting the multisided cooperation between India and Vietnam.

He said the economic relations between both the countries had been expanding over the years, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Bilateral trade raised from 50 million US Dollar in 1991 to 817 million US Dollars in the fiscal 2005-06.

Vietnam had become one of the biggest FDI recipients of India with over 550 million US Dollars of disbursed capital.

Embassy of Vietnam, Third Secretary, Do Hoang Minh said Vietnam had political and social stability and a fast growing economy and was recognised by foreign investors as one of the safest places in the Asia Pacific region.

Inaugurating the workshop, Kerala Industries Minister said the state government was keen on the rapid industrialisation of the state. The state industrial policy would be announced soon by incorporating the view points of industrial bodies like CII, he added.

UNI CR GKT 2005