Red-carpet for Indian PM in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee received a red-carpet welcome as he began his official three-day visit to Vietnam.

Vajpayee was greeted by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in Hanoi on Monday and is scheduled to hold talks with government and business leaders aimed to boost cooperation between the two countries.

The visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister since 1994, has been heralded as a turning point in bilateral relations, with trade, economics and regional security expected to be the top issues on the agenda.

Vietnam's Communist Party mouthpiece, the Nhan Dan newspaper says the visit will "lift the historical, friendly and traditional bilateral relations to a new level."

Over the three days, Vajpayee is expected to witness the signing of a number of agreements on tourism, cultural and science and technological cooperation.

Indian diplomats said Vajpayee would also discuss common security concerns, particularly relating to China.

They said India was eager to enhance its dialogue with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Vietnam currently chairs.

India is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, a broader 37-nation security grouping.

Vajpayee is scheduled to meet Vietnam's Defense Minister Pham Van Tra late on Monday. Earlier last year Hanoi and New Delhi reached a military agreement, under which small groups of Indian officers would get jungle warfare training in Vietnam.

Although India and Vietnam have had warm ties for many years, not least because of a mutual wariness of China, bilateral trade remains limited. An Indian diplomat estimated it at about $160 million in the past year.

India has direct investment worth about $200 million in Vietnam, including projects in the sugar, plastics and electronics industries.

This amount has increased significantly after the signing of key parts of a $1.5 billion gas deal in December, under which a foreign consortium including India's ONGC Videsh will extract natural gas from Vietnam's Nam Con Son basin.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Nhan Dan newspaper

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