What's next up for Indian ties

India and Vietnam have been marching together in economic development for decades.

- Tshering W. Sherpa

Indian Ambassador to Vietnam Tshering W. Sherpa writes about how trade and investment cooperation between India and Vietnam will improve further.This year we commemorate 10 years of our comprehensive strategic partnership. Next year, 2027 will mark 55 years of the establishment of our diplomatic relations. India and Vietnam have come a long way since 1972: our bilateral relations are robust and multifaceted, built on the strong foundations of mutual trust, civilisational heritage, mutual respect and solidarity.

India and Vietnam are two rapidly growing economies. Both countries have a huge demographic dividend and aspirational societies with evolving entrepreneurial skills.

My efforts will be to further strengthen the trade and commerce, in which our mutual ambitions have yet to realise their full potential. There is much more we can accomplish together. We both need to walk the talk towards promoting reliable, efficient and resilient supply chain systems. There is an embrace in the vision of our respective development visions.

In the past 10 years, our bilateral trade has exactly doubled to about $16 billion across 2024-2025. These are impressive developments and reflect synergy between the two sides. However, the potential for mutual trade and investments is immense. Our bilateral trade is still below 2 per cent of our respective global trade; so that really does not correspond well with the fact that we are the two of the fastest growing economies in the region.

Riveted cooperation