VINACHEM

HA NOI — India would do its utmost to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to export products to India, said the Indian Ambassador to Viet Nam Ranjit Rea.

During a seminar on opportunities for exports to the Indian market, held in Ha Noi on Thursday, the ambassador said India would provide Vietnamese exporters with free-of-charge pavilions at the first India-ASEAN Business Fair slated for March 2011.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien emphasised the importance of exchanging information on the two countries' trade policies and trade promotion activities in an attempt to foster bilateral trade.

Bien called on Indian investors to establish factories in Viet Nam to re-export products to India in a move to narrow the trade deficit between the two countries.

India has been one of Viet Nam's top 10 trade partners over recent years. Two-way trade reached US$2.3 billion in the first 11 months of the year; $863 million of which came from Vietnamese exports including steel, rubber, coal, computer components, machinery and chemicals.

Viet Nam's trade deficit with India decreased from $1.58 billion in 2008 to $657 million in the past 11 months. —VNS