As the two neighbours In Asia, Viet Nam and India have entertained the ancient cultural and trade interactions. In the contemporary times, the two peoples sympathized with and supported each other in the struggle for independence and freedom of the each country. President Ho Chi Minh and the Indian leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have laid the foundation for the traditional and close friendship between two nations. Prime Minister J. Nehru was the first foreign dignitary to visit Viet Nam right after Hanoi's liberation in October, 1954. President Ho Chi Minh paid a historic visit to India in February, 1958. The two counties upgraded their relations to ambassadorial level from 7th January 1972.
After Viet Nam's reunification, Viet Nam - Indian relations entered the stage of comprehensive cooperation, encompassing political, economic, cultural scientific and technological fields. During the official visits of Prime Minister Pham Van Dong to India in 1978 and 1980, the two sides signed many agreements on cooperation in economic , commercial , scientific and technological cooperation. Stemming from the desire to assist Viet Nam to restore the war-ravaged economy, since 1978, the Indian Government has provided Viet Nam with credits, including loans in food and assistance in the fields of agriculture, light industry and transport as well as in setting up Rice Research Institute in Omon and Buffalo Forage Research Centre in Song Be etc.
Official visits of Secretary General of the Communist party of Viet Nam Le Duan to India in 1984 and Secretary General Nguyen Van Linh in 1989 as well as the visits of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to Viet Nam in 1985 and 1988 created a driving force for the promotion of the close friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries. The inter-governmental Joint Commission on Economic, Cultural and Science-technological cooperation, co-chaired by the two Foreign Ministers set up in 1982 has contributed a great deal to consolidating their bilateral relationship. From 1988, the two sides have extended their collaboration to oil and natural gas exploration. Dozen of Indian public and private companies have set up their representative offices and undertaken joint venture projects in Viet Nam.
The decade of 90s witnessed the vigorous expansion in the bilateral cooperation. Their close relationship marked by mutual trust continued to be strengthened through the visits of Secretary General Do Muoi to India in 1992, of the Chairman of National Assembly Nong Duc Manh in 1994 and that of Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet in 1997 as well as the visits to Viet Nam of President R. Venkataraman in 1992, Vice-President K. Ranayanan in 1993 and Prime Minister N. Rao in 1994. For the first time since Viet Nam's reunification, President Tran Duc Luong paid the State visit to India in December, 1999. The visit by Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee to Vietnam in 2001 and the visit by General Secretary Nong Duc Manh to India in 2003 marked historic milestones and provided the basis for raising the bilateral relations between the two countries to a new height in the 21st century. The Indian leaders regard the relationship with Viet Nam as " special" and a "policy of national consensus", supported by all parties and people in India. They admire for the achievements of our renovation and highly appreciate Viet Nam's open foreign policy and increasingly growing role in the region and the world over. The two countries share identical or close views on the important regional and global issues, agree to coordinate their activities in promoting peace and stability in the region, strengthening South - South cooperation, enhancing the role of the Non-Aligned Movement and fostering cooperation at the UN and other, regional and international fora, striving for peace and international security, for the equal, democratic and progressive world order. Viet Nam appreciates India's foreign policy of promoting cooperation with ASEAN, actively contributing to the peace, stability in the region and upholding her role in the world at large. At the 54 session of the UN General Assembly, Viet Nam expressed support for India to become a permanent member of the expanded UN Security Council and this was warmly acclaimed by the Government, people and public opinion of India.
The economic, cultural, commercial and scientific - technological collaboration between the two countries has witnessed fast development in the resent years and brought about the important results. The two way trade turnover increased from US$ 50 million in the 80s to more than US$ 350 million in 2002 and numerous measures have been taken to diversify the products with a view to increase the trade volume to US$ 500 million in the year of 2005. The Government of India continues to provide annual credit lines as to facilitate Viet Nam's import of the equipment for projects in agricultural, agro-forest processing industries, especially sugar, tea, import of locomotives and wagons... Regarding investment, India has so far invested in more than 10 projects and joint ventures with the total capital of above US$ 130 million, mainly in the oil and natural gas exploration, agriculture, bio-seeds, agro-forest processing, electricity transmission, pharmaceutical products... The progress in the field of scientific-technological cooperation and first of all in software technology is especially encouraging. The two sides have set up Joint Working Group co-chaired by Vice- Minister to promote cooperation in this edge sector.
After Viet Nam's reunification, Viet Nam - Indian relations entered the stage of comprehensive cooperation, encompassing political, economic, cultural scientific and technological fields. During the official visits of Prime Minister Pham Van Dong to India in 1978 and 1980, the two sides signed many agreements on cooperation in economic , commercial , scientific and technological cooperation. Stemming from the desire to assist Viet Nam to restore the war-ravaged economy, since 1978, the Indian Government has provided Viet Nam with credits, including loans in food and assistance in the fields of agriculture, light industry and transport as well as in setting up Rice Research Institute in Omon and Buffalo Forage Research Centre in Song Be etc.
Official visits of Secretary General of the Communist party of Viet Nam Le Duan to India in 1984 and Secretary General Nguyen Van Linh in 1989 as well as the visits of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to Viet Nam in 1985 and 1988 created a driving force for the promotion of the close friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries. The inter-governmental Joint Commission on Economic, Cultural and Science-technological cooperation, co-chaired by the two Foreign Ministers set up in 1982 has contributed a great deal to consolidating their bilateral relationship. From 1988, the two sides have extended their collaboration to oil and natural gas exploration. Dozen of Indian public and private companies have set up their representative offices and undertaken joint venture projects in Viet Nam.
The decade of 90s witnessed the vigorous expansion in the bilateral cooperation. Their close relationship marked by mutual trust continued to be strengthened through the visits of Secretary General Do Muoi to India in 1992, of the Chairman of National Assembly Nong Duc Manh in 1994 and that of Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet in 1997 as well as the visits to Viet Nam of President R. Venkataraman in 1992, Vice-President K. Ranayanan in 1993 and Prime Minister N. Rao in 1994. For the first time since Viet Nam's reunification, President Tran Duc Luong paid the State visit to India in December, 1999. The visit by Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee to Vietnam in 2001 and the visit by General Secretary Nong Duc Manh to India in 2003 marked historic milestones and provided the basis for raising the bilateral relations between the two countries to a new height in the 21st century. The Indian leaders regard the relationship with Viet Nam as " special" and a "policy of national consensus", supported by all parties and people in India. They admire for the achievements of our renovation and highly appreciate Viet Nam's open foreign policy and increasingly growing role in the region and the world over. The two countries share identical or close views on the important regional and global issues, agree to coordinate their activities in promoting peace and stability in the region, strengthening South - South cooperation, enhancing the role of the Non-Aligned Movement and fostering cooperation at the UN and other, regional and international fora, striving for peace and international security, for the equal, democratic and progressive world order. Viet Nam appreciates India's foreign policy of promoting cooperation with ASEAN, actively contributing to the peace, stability in the region and upholding her role in the world at large. At the 54 session of the UN General Assembly, Viet Nam expressed support for India to become a permanent member of the expanded UN Security Council and this was warmly acclaimed by the Government, people and public opinion of India.
The economic, cultural, commercial and scientific - technological collaboration between the two countries has witnessed fast development in the resent years and brought about the important results. The two way trade turnover increased from US$ 50 million in the 80s to more than US$ 350 million in 2002 and numerous measures have been taken to diversify the products with a view to increase the trade volume to US$ 500 million in the year of 2005. The Government of India continues to provide annual credit lines as to facilitate Viet Nam's import of the equipment for projects in agricultural, agro-forest processing industries, especially sugar, tea, import of locomotives and wagons... Regarding investment, India has so far invested in more than 10 projects and joint ventures with the total capital of above US$ 130 million, mainly in the oil and natural gas exploration, agriculture, bio-seeds, agro-forest processing, electricity transmission, pharmaceutical products... The progress in the field of scientific-technological cooperation and first of all in software technology is especially encouraging. The two sides have set up Joint Working Group co-chaired by Vice- Minister to promote cooperation in this edge sector.
