India, Vietnam to Work Closely on Key Issues for Collaborative Growth: Vietnam Minister

New Delhi: A “lone bamboo,” doesn’t have much of a chance in a storm, but a grove? That’s the lesson in these stressful times of Covid and economic disruption, said Nguyen Quoc Dung, Vietnam’s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, at the Times Group’s Indian Economic Conclave.

Speaking for collaborative growth, the minister, made it clear that Vietnam, “a destination of choice for foreign investors,” and India had a magnificent opportunity to work together in the post-Covid world.

Vietnam, because of measures taken in early February, like encouraging people to wear masks, has had only about 2,500 Covid cases and 35 fatalities– extraordinary, considering its population of 95 million. And in the midst of an international economic meltdown, it has grown at 3 per cent. Looking ahead, the minister has suggested ways of working closely with India.

• India and Vietnam could “enhance connectivities,” with the minister speaking of “engaging Vietnamese enterprises in the Indian supply chains of medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines.”
• India and Vietnam must allow more market access to each other and work together on WTO reforms and the “formulation of digital trade and digital economy governance rules.”
• Cooperate in innovation promotion, with India helping to build R&D centres in Vietnam.
• Work together to fight climate change, as part of the Mekong-Ganga project. And Vietnam, he said, wanted to work with India, the pharmacy of the world. A rising South-East Asia would only India over the next decades, giving it many more opportunities.

Source: TNN