Vietnam keen on fostering business ties with Kerala

Vietnam has invited Kerala’s entrepreneurs to invest in that country and set up joint ventures in tourism, IT, food processing, plantation and other areas.

Vietnam is looking forward to step up the multifaceted cooperation with Kerala, especially in industry and commerce, Ton Sinh Thanh, minister counsellor of the Vietnamese embassy in India, said here Friday.

He was addressing a workshop on ‘Opportunities for Doing Business with Vietnam’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Vietnamese embassy.

‘Kerala companies can do business in Vietnam and set up joint ventures in areas such as tourism, IT, food processing, plantation and furniture,’ he said.

Economic relations between India and Vietnam have been expanding over the years, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The bilateral trade went up from $50 million in 1991 to $817 million in fiscal 2005-06.

The diplomat described his first visit to Kerala as an affirmation of the strong bilateral relations and said it would provide new momentum for the traditional ties and cooperation to grow further.

‘India is now like an emerging giant elephant and Vietnam - a new tiger leaping forward,’ added Thanh.