The Hindu : Vietnam delegation arrives to enhance ties with India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 18, 2002

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Vietnam delegation arrives to enhance ties with India
By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, MARCH 17. Vietnam's Vice-President, Nguyen Thi Binh, arrived here today to look at ways to enhance cooperation with India in the energy, tourism and transportation sectors.

Ms. Nguyen is leading a high-level delegation that includes the Minister for Agriculture as well as the Deputy Ministers for Foreign Trade, Industry, Transport and Petroleum. A 40-member business delegation is also accompanying her.

India sees the visit as another opportunity to enhance ties with the ASEAN countries. Ms. Nguyen's visit was preceded by high-level exchanges with Thailand and Cambodia.

The External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, will visit countries in the Asia-Pacific region soon and his itinerary is likely to include Myanmar, China and South Korea. Vietnam and Cambodia are part of the Mekong-Ganga initiative that envisages closer physical and economic links between India and countries in the Mekong delta.

``A decision has been taken to build a close relationship with India, and construction of transport links is likely to engage us in the future,'' Vietnam's Ambassador to India, Pham Sy Tam, told The Hindu. He pointed out that at present, a land route to Vietnam from India through Nepal and China existed. But another route through Myanmar was also possible.

India, Mr. Pham said, had connected a highway passing through Manipur to a location close to Mandalay, in Myanmar. In case the road was extended to Vietnam, another land corridor from India to Hanoi would open up. The question of new transport links is expected to be taken up in detail during the coming meeting of the Indo-Vietnam Joint Commission.

India and Vietnam, during Ms. Nguyen's stay, are expected to discuss further cooperation in the oil and gas sector. The ONGC (Videsh) has invested $380 million for a gas pipeline from fields in Lantay and Lando in southern Vietnam. India is also negotiating purchases of Vietnam's crude. However, Government sources here pointed out that there were some technical hitches as the Chennai refinery alone could process the relatively ``heavy'' Vietnamese crude.

Development of tourism is another focal area of Ms. Nguyen's visit. Aware of the large Indian tourist flow into Singapore and Thailand, Vietnam is making a conscious effort to tap some of this traffic. Arrangements are being planned that would encourage ``pilgrim tourists'' from Vietnam to Buddhist sites in India.

Analysts here point out that India's decision to forge close links with South-East Asian countries is partly driven by China's recent efforts to consolidate its influence in the region. India's backing to the Mekong-Ganga plan is seen here as a response to China's Kunming initiative.

With Kunming, the capital of Yunan province as the hub, China is drawing new communication and economic linkages with countries straddling the Mekong basin. It is also planning to expand its reach by sending goods along Myanmar's Irrawady river that empties into the Bay of Bengal.

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