An Indo-Vietnam cooperation meet was held here on Tuesday being inaugurated by chairman of the People’s Committee of Haugiang Province Huynh Thanh Tao flanked by IVCC director general Dr Abhinna C Hota from the India side. Both sides threw light over India’s relationship in general and Odisha’s connection in particular with Vietnam for over 2,000 years.
Former Ambassador Abasar Beuria orchestrated the relationship whose traces are still reminiscent in Odisha’s Khudurukuni Puja culminating in Boita Bandana. Dr Hota reminded Vietnamese how the JNU campus was reverberating with the slogan “ Ho Chi Min, We Shall Fight, We Shall Win” when the father of Vietnam was languishing in prison in his country as a freedom fighter.
A 13-member delegation headed by Huynh Thanh Tao participated in the Business Conclave. Members representing investment, agriculture, finance, external affairs, information and communication, industrial parks gave presentations.
Thanh Tao invited business groups from India and Odisha to visit his country and his province to explore business opportunities. India and Vietnam have set a trade target of US$15 billion (Rs 97,778 crore) by 2020. Bilateral trade increased almost tenfold over the last 10 years, from US$1.15 billion (Rs 7,494 crore) in 2007 to US$10.1 billion (Rs 65,840 crore) in 2017. India is Vietnam’s fifth largest trading partner in the ASEAN, Vietnam holds the 19th position worldwide for India, Tao said.
Dr Hota echoed the need to cement Indo-Vietnam our rations further in the business and social sectors including skill development and healthcare. He suggested visit of a business promotion delegation to Vietnam in early January next year. IVCC advisor Sarat Charat Pradhan indicated a roadmap for stronger Indo-Vietnam economic cooperation and particularly with Odisha. Odisha State Productivity Council (OSPC) Chairman Abasar Beuria, while recalling the friendship between Jawaharlal Nehru and Ho Chi Minh assured the OSPC’s cooperation to work closely with the IVCC on many business proposals to fructify in a time-bound manner.
Prominent among others present were former bureaucrats Vivek Pattanayak and Alekh Padhiari and lawyer Ramakanta Rath.
Two MoUs were signed between IVCC and Hau Giang Province to undertake a project for extraction of ethylene from sugarcane molasses. Administrator Ranjan Das acted as moderator of the event.