Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his entourage arrived in New Delhi late Tuesday evening (local time), starting a state visit to India to further boost multifaceted cooperation under the comprehensive strategic partnership with the South Asian country.

The visit, set to last through Thursday, is made at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Welcoming PM Chinh at the Palam military airport were Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margerita and Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Sandeep Arya.

Vietnamese Ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Hai and Consul General in Mumbai Le Quang Bien were also present at the reception.

PM Modi will preside over a state-level welcome ceremony and hold talks with the Vietnamese government leader on Thursday.

The visit aims to enhance bilateral cooperation in traditional sectors and broaden collaboration in promising areas, including information technology, renewable energy, green economy, digital economy, telecommunications, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, electronics, and infrastructure.

During the visit, PM Chinh will also have meetings with Indian President Droupadi Murmu, Speaker of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian parliament) Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker of the Lok Sabha (the lower house) Om Birla.

In addition, Chinh will meet with leaders of some political parties, attend business forums and dialogues, receive CEOs of leading Indian economic groups, and speak at the Indian Council of World Affairs.

On Wednesday, PM Chinh will hold working sessions with major corporations and enterprises in India's pharmaceutical and oil and gas sectors. He will also attend and deliver a speech at the Vietnam-India Business Forum.

He will also join the inauguration of the new office of the Vietnamese Embassy in India, where he will talk with officials and staff.

On the same day, he will meet with representatives of the Vietnamese community in India.

This is the first state visit by PM Chinh as the head of government and also the first business trip to India by a Vietnamese prime minister in 10 years.

The visit underscores Vietnam’s Party and state's commitment to enhancing the comprehensive strategic partnership with India and strengthening the long-standing traditional friendship between the two nations.

Ambassador Hai said that PM Chinh is among the first foreign leaders to visit India following Prime Minister Modi's re-election for a third term.

The diplomat expressed confidence that this visit will generate new momentum and outline directions for further expanding and deepening cooperation between the two sides.

The visit also enhances bilateral coordination on regional and international issues, fosters mutual support in multilateral forums, and promotes the comprehensive strategic partnership between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India, thereby maintaining and promoting peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world, the ambassador stated.

Vietnam and India established diplomatic relations in 1972 and upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016.

Last year, two-way trade reached nearly US$15 billion, a 2.5-fold increase over seven years, according to official figures.  

Large Indian corporations are interested in investing in Vietnam in areas such as renewable energy, processing industry, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, and logistics, among others.

Electric vehicle maker VinFast, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s leading conglomerate Vingroup, started construction of an automobile assembly and manufacturing plant in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with a committed investment of $2 billion, in February this year.

India ranks among the top three countries with the highest growth rates of tourists to Vietnam, with the number of Indian visitors to the Southeast Asian country increasing 2.5 times over the past four years.

Over the past decade, India has awarded nearly 3,000 short-term and long-term scholarships to Vietnamese students through various programs.

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