President To Lam receives Ambassador of India to Vietnam Sandeep Arya. Photo: Nhan Sang/VNA

At the meeting, President To Lam extended congratulations to the leaders and people of India for successfully organizing the recent 2024 general election.

He expressed his pleasure to witness that the two countries' relationship has made great strides, with two-way trade reaching nearly 15 billion USD last year and said he believes that the two countries can soon reach a turnover of 20 billion USD. The President welcomed large Indian corporations to invest in Vietnam in strategic fields, such as oil and gas, infrastructure, seaports and emerging fields such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, semiconductor, clean energy and energy conversion. He encouraged the two countries to promote connections in cultural, religious and historical traditions to enhance tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Discussing regional and global issues, the President proposed that the two countries continue to coordinate closely at multilateral forums, contributing to consolidating peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean. He highly appreciated India's "Act East" policy through practical and specific cooperation activities with countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam.

Ambassador Sandeep Arya affirmed that he will continue to make efforts to promote relations between the two countries, firstly arranging high-level visits and contacts in the near future, further deepening cooperation in defense, economics-trade, science-technology, culture-tourism, and expanding into new fields.

The Ambassador said that India is cooperating very effectively with Vietnamese agencies and localities through quick impact projects (QIPs), projects to restore Cham towers at My Son sanctuary, and organizing International Yoga Day (June 21) in many provinces and cities, contributing to spreading humanistic and positive cultural values between the two countries.