Vietnam open to FTA with India: Vietnamese PM

Mumbai, Jul 5: Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung today said Vietnam was open to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India and also supports the FTA with Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He was delivering a keynote address at India-Vietnam business forum here for strategic partnership.

He said the potential that existed for trade and business relations between two traditional-friendly countries was far in excess of what it actually was at present.

''We can do more to step up economic cooperation and increase investment for mutual benefit of both countries,'' he said.

He expressed support for India's Look East policy, and also for India's engagement with ASEAN of which Vietnam was a member country.

He mentioned the FTA which India was negotiating with ASEAN, where he assured India of all support from Vietnam.

Earlier, Syamal Gupta, member Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Council&Chairman, Tata International Ltd, who chaired the business forum's session, pointed out that Indian companies like Essar that had made forays into Vietnam were successful.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister said with investments by Tata Group and Essar, India is among the top 10 investor companies in Vietnam.

Mr Gupta maintained that although Vietnam was a late entrant to the global economy as compared to the most SE Asian countries, Mr Gupta said Vietnam's progress was ''impressive''.

Vietnam's economy has grown from USD 45 billion in 2004 to USD 60 billion in the last year. Global integration has accelerated with the annual exports now reaching USD 40 billion and FDI commitments surging to USD 16 billion in 2006. Vietnam has become Asia's second fastest growing economy, Mr Gupta pointed out.

Tan Dung invited Indian investors to come to Vietnam as its becoming a member of the WTO had translated into a favourable environment for bilateral trade and investment. Stating that the recently adopted laws in Vietnam sought to unify the regulatory framework for domestic and foreign enterprises also to harmonise rules on trading rights, he said the investment climate has become conducive in Vietnam.

''This also demonstrates Vietnam's commitment towards transformation into a market based economy,'' Tan Dung said.

While speaking about CII's initiatives in furthering Indo-Vietnamese bilateral trade relations, Mr Gupta said CII would be organizing a visit by Indian CEOs as also a 'Made in India' exhibition in Vietnam.

He suggested setting up of a task force to push bilateral trade ties between the two countries.

UNI