Vietnam, India need to work to boost bilateral trade and investment relationship

The Southeast Asian nation is an attractive destination in investment and trade for foreign firms in Asia, including those from India, as it is expected to become a large regional economy in the future thus Vietnam and India need to work together to raise bilateral trade and investment relationships to a new level to match their potential, Rajiv Kher, Commerce Secretary of India stated at the India-Vietnam Business Meet 2015 held in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.

Kher headed a delegation of 50 leading Indian businesses in many fields to join a working trip to explore business opportunities in Vietnam from January 18 to 22.

India not only wants to consolidate and strengthen economic ties with Vietnam, but also yearns to develop relationships in many other aspects strategically and comprehensively, Kher said.

Vietnam and India can foster cooperation in textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, information technology, and high-tech products. India is considered a fast-growing emerging economy with a lot of potential, including a large consumer market, so the investment and trade opportunities there are equally available to both domestic and foreign companies.

Vietnamese enterprises should therefore actively seize the advantage to increase investment and expand their market share in India. As a developing nation with abundant sources of raw materials, Vietnam will have more opportunities to export to serve manufacturing in India.

As the Southeast Asian country’s manufacturing industries are developing, they will require more raw and semi-processed materials from other parts of the world, and Indian suppliers will offer their best products at good prices.

The two countries can thus complement each other in their production processes following their capacities and positions in the global value chain. That is also what the “Make in India” program is tailored to be. “Make in India,” initiated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in late 2014, focuses on promoting Indian-made goods and services.

Today, a country can produce everything by importing raw materials to make finished products, or it can produce semi-finished ones and then re-export to other countries to complete the production process for final products. If India improves its production capacities in many fields, it can help promote the production capabilities of many other areas in other countries.

During its visit, the Indian delegation paid attention to five areas: textiles; pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical raw materials; mechanical; leather; and agricultural and agro-processing. They also looked at the information technology and oil and gas industries.

Regarding the textile industry, India can become a major supplier of raw materials such as yarn, cotton, cloth, and synthetic fiber for Vietnam.
India can compete fairly with materials from other countries with the same quality and price ranges.

As a result, it is necessary to increase cooperation and trade between the two countries so that India can become a major supplier of raw materials for the textile industry of Vietnam.

In 2014, two-way trade between Vietnam and India topped US$5.4 billion, while exports from Vietnam to India were worth more than $2.4 billion and imports from the country reached more than $3 billion. According to the Indian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, Indian FDI in Vietnam is currently at nearly $1 billion.

The economic structures of Vietnam and India complement each other in a good way.