By IANS
Kolkata : Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his country would work closely with India to develop bilateral ties in trade, science and technology transfer.
"India has been an active investor in Vietnam but the actual potential of Indian investments in Vietnam was much greater. Friendship and economic co-operation would reach new heights in the years to come if both the countries would work together," Dung said.
Dung, accompanied by a 105-member business delegation, arrived in Kolkata Wednesday morning to begin his three-day visit to India.
Emphasising on the need for greater bilateral trade, he said the total foreign direct investment in Vietnam was about $80 billion and annual investment was $10 billion.
"The Look East policy of India will help in promoting friendship with Vietnam. Our people remember the support during the struggle for independence," Dung said here in a function jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
He added that Vietnam offered political and social stability and a growing economy for the last 20 years that had crossed the eight percent growth rate.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who held a meeting with Dung here, said the state was eager for Vietnamese collaboration in fisheries and dairy sectors.
"The bilateral trade between India and Vietnam has increased about 30 percent in past three years," Bhattacharya said, adding the Vietnamese team would sign an agriculture-related memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian government in New Delhi in presence of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
Dung also laid a wreath at the Ho Chi Minh Memorial statue here and later left for Jamshedpur in Jharkhand to visit the Tata Steel plant there.
He returned to Kolkata by evening and then left for Mumbai on a special flight.