MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRADE AND INVESTMENT COOPERATION FOR INDIA-VIETNAM BUSINESSES

Carrying out trade promotion in 2021, the Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in India cooperated with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to organize the Vietnam - India Virtual Business Meeting 2021. The forum focused on three main areas: Information technology and electronics; automobile and motorbike and supporting industries; and medicines and medical equipment.

In the information technology industry, HCL Technologies Group, which currently ranks 6th in the Top 10 global information technology service companies, officially established a company in Vietnam with a pledged investment fund of US$650 million which is expected to train about 10,000 high-tech engineers for Vietnam in the next five years. The company leaders were very pleased with the rapid development after only six months in Vietnam. In a separate development, FPT Corporation opened a representative office in Hyderabad, India.

Regarding supporting industries for the automobile and motorcycle industry, one of five key industries that the Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in India will accelerate promotion in the future, the embassy recently launched an investment - trade promotion program in Chandigarh City and met with many automobile - motorcycle parts manufacturers. Before that, the embassy coordinated with the government of Uttar Pradesh and the Association of India Industry to organize a trade exchange program on February 25, 2021.

Outstanding cooperation between Vietnam and India in the supporting industry featured cooperation projects between Tata Group of India and TMT Motors Corporation, and an investment project of Minda Group in Vinh Phuc province.

Regarding medicine and medical equipment, Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau said, “The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the importance of the health sector to global public health. Recently, the embassy has actively worked with Indian vaccine production centers such as Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to exchange information about the purchase of India’s COVID-19 vaccines in the near future for Vietnamese people, and proposed the two countries cooperate in vaccine development in the coming time.” The embassy expects Indian businesses to invest in modern technology production lines in Vietnam, not merely processing and packaging. The Government of Vietnam is committed to creating the best conditions for drug and pharmaceutical manufacturers in Vietnam.

As for the automobile manufacturing industry, Mr. Bui Trung Nghia, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Vietnam's automobile manufacturing industry is developing rapidly but the development of parts industries is slow. This presents an opportunity for Indian auto parts manufacturers which are already among top exporters in the world. The Government of Vietnam is making every effort to create favorable conditions for domestic and foreign enterprises with technology transfer projects and to encourage the transfer of advanced technologies to Vietnam, especially in the automotive industry. In this regard, Vietnam also encourages domestic and foreign companies to establish quality management and environmental protection processes according to international standards.

Representing the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, Ms. Le Thi Mai Anh, Head of Southeast - South Asia and Regional Cooperation Bureau, Asia - Africa Department, said that despite the severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam-India bilateral trade still achieved positive results. The structure has changed significantly. Previously, traded items were largely pharmaceuticals, inputs for animal feed manufacturing, and aquatic products, but now the categories have been expanded to mobile phones, electronics, iron and steel, chemicals, agricultural products, inputs for livestock, seafood and buffalo meat.

India is currently the third largest pharmaceutical supplier to Vietnam after France and Germany. In 2020, Vietnam imported US$257 million worth medicines and pharmaceuticals from India.

Source: VCCI