The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : 'India can help Vietnam integrate with world economy'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 22, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

'India can help Vietnam integrate with world economy'

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, NOV. 21. Expressing the hope that India would help Vietnam integrate with the world economy, the Vietnamese Foreign Minister, Nguyen Dy Nien, said his country had a "high appreciation of the Indian position in the [Asian] region and the world" in the political domain.

Mr. Nien, who gave written answers to questions from The Hindu on the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between Jawaharlal Nehru and Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, pointed to the "strong growth" in defence cooperation in recent years.

Recalling the historic Nehru-Ho Chi Minh meeting on October 17, 1954, Mr. Nien said relations between the two countries were now infused with the spirit of the "Joint declaration on comprehensive cooperation framework in the 21st century." The general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Nong Duc Manh, signed the document on his visit to India in May 2003.

Expectations

On Hanoi's expectations about New Delhi's role in helping Vietnam integrate with the global economy, Mr. Nien said: "India is a very large economy with a high growth rate and is ahead of Vietnam in the process of economic development and international integration. We believe that the country is in a good position to assist Vietnam in its global integration process. India's support to Vietnam may cover many fields and come from various sources."

While on the bilateral front "India helps Vietnam develop its human resources, especially in science and information technology," the existing links between India and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Mekong-Ganga cooperative project were of relevance to Hanoi in a multilateral context.

Accession to WTO

As for Vietnam's efforts to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Foreign Minister said, "given the traditional friendship and mutual understanding and trust between the two countries, we believe India will actively support us." Vietnam is poised to negotiate with the U.S. and 15 other countries, including India, on its accession to the WTO. The Minister's comments gain political significance given that experts like Nguyen Manh Hung have identified the accession issue as Vietnam's "challenge of integration" with the world economy.

Asked about India's place in his country's foreign policy in the specific context of the signs of rapprochement between Hanoi and Washington, Mr. Nien said his country's "bonds of friendship and multifaceted cooperation" with New Delhi had "seen unceasing consolidation and expansion over the last half a century." India's "look East" policy will also create many more opportunities. He said Hanoi's improved relations with Washington showed a "foreign policy of independence, sovereignty, openness and diversification of international relations."

Defence links

About the possibility of a strategic understanding between India and Vietnam, Mr. Nien said the strength of defence links was "reflected by the exchange of many high-level visits and experience-sharing between the two armies."

To a question whether Vietnam would want India to play any role in the development of the strategic Cam Ranh port, Mr. Nien said: "For a long time, Cam Ranh has been known as a military port, which is now no longer the case. In 2003, the Vietnamese Prime Minister approved the master plan for developing the Cam Ranh Gulf until 2010 for civil use. This has been strongly implemented and the Cam Ranh airport was inaugurated on May 19, 2004, and it is now open for commercial flights."

On another note, Mr. Nien said Vietnam fully shared India's views on U.N. reform. Hanoi "gives India strong support in its bid for permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council."

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