New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) India and Vietnam have agreed to further strengthen economic relations and work towards enhancing bilateral trade to $25 billion by 2030, according to a joint statement issued by both countries on Wednesday.

The joint statement was issued after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnam President To Lam, who is on an official visit to India.

“The two sides agreed to reinforce cooperation between the two rapidly growing economies at the level of governments and businesses for increasing two-way trade, investment, and their technological partnership,” it said.

Both sides will facilitate market access, including for agricultural products such as Indian grapes and pomegranates as well as Vietnamese durians and pomelos, the statement said.

Vietnam affirmed its commitments to diversify its supply sources and to import more products from India to serve its domestic production and export needs. Both sides agreed to explore ways for a more conducive regulatory environment to facilitate ease of doing business for companies of both countries, including in standards compliance certification.

The leaders agreed that the ongoing review of the ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) should be concluded at the earliest. They concurred that the resulting agreement should be mutually beneficial, trade facilitative, and relevant to current global trading practices.

The leaders agreed to encourage greater two-way investments to further strengthen India-Vietnam economic ties, especially in the fields of high technology, transport, manufacturing, logistics, renewable energy, smart agriculture, electric vehicles and information technology, healthcare, agriculture and agro-processing, aquaculture, tourism and hospitality, among others. They also agreed to strengthen the linkages between the two countries’ startup ecosystems and encourage substantive cooperation among innovation centres.

Besides, the two countries agreed to step up cooperation in oil and gas exploration, including development of new wells where Indian companies are interested in participating, in accordance with Vietnamese law and international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS.

Recognising the growing importance of e-commerce and the digital economy, the leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in these areas, through enhanced sharing of experiences in developing enabling regulations and policies to support their growth and support businesses, especially MSMEs, to participate in e-commerce to integrate deeply and sustainably in the regional and global value chains.

The leaders reiterated the significance of digital technologies and welcomed the signing of the MoU between the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of Vietnam on financial innovation and digital payments. They agreed to promote linkages for retail payment platforms via QR Codes that would facilitate tourism and businesses of both sides.

The leaders also agreed to facilitate greater collaboration and partnership in critical and emerging technology areas such as Digital Public Infrastructure, 6G, Artificial Intelligence, space and nuclear technology, marine sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, advanced materials and critical minerals. Cooperation will focus on practical initiatives such as joint research, R&D centres, and product development as mutually beneficial.

The leaders acknowledged their respective climate, sustainable development goals and energy transition priorities and agreed to enhance cooperation in clean and renewable energy, as well as climate and disaster-resilient technologies.

The leaders noted with satisfaction the ongoing collaboration in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy and agreed to intensify follow-up on various avenues of further cooperation emerging from the 4th India- Vietnam Joint Committee Meeting on atomic energy.

They noted the progress towards the establishment of the ASEAN-India tracking, data reception station, and data processing facility in Vietnam. Vietnam agreed to expedite the remaining processes on its side with a view to facilitating the completion of the project at the earliest.

The leaders also welcomed the signing of an MoU between IREL (India) Ltd and Vietnam’s Institute for Technology of Radioactive and Rare Elements, VINATOM, on mutual cooperation in the field of rare earths, and emphasised its early and full implementation, the statement added.

–IANS

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