Dong Thap is marking a turning point in cooperation with investors from the likes of India

For the first time, about 150 Indian enterprises in agriculture, agricultural engineering, food processing, seafood, IT, and tourism will join the India-Dong Thap Trade and Investment Conference 2023, held on June 27-29, to study investment opportunities in the province.

The conference highlight is the meeting and discussion session connecting businesses from the two parties with the two topics of trade and investment and tourism and IT.

These meetings and discussions will play an extremely important role in deepening the bilateral cooperation, bringing the locality a green and sustainable economy, and simultaneously becoming a leader in the digital transformation of the Mekong Delta. Investors will also join an extended field trip as part of the conference.

A display area and exhibition of outstanding products, products of startups, and export products of Dong Thap will also be held. In addition, there will be an exhibition area about industrial parks and clusters; border-gate economic zones; exhibition booths; explainers on digital transformation model in education, agriculture, and tourism; as well as the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Dong Thap Business Association and Indian business partners.

Nguyen Phuoc Thien, Deputy Chairman of Dong Thap People’s Committee, said that all preparations for the conference were completed through thoughtful coordination between local authorities and related parties including the Consulate General of India in Vietnam and the community of Indian investors in the country.

“We are creating a good impression for the Indian business community on the investment environment of the province and the Mekong Delta region in general, ensuring practical, effective, and economical benefit as well as promising prospects of practical and extensive cooperation,” Thien said.

Vietnam and India established a strategic partnership relation in 2007, which was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016. In 2022, the two countries celebrated 50 years since establishing diplomatic relations in many localities in both countries. Bilateral trade reached $15.1 billion in 2022 and the figure is forecast to hit $20 billion by 2025.

Vietnam’s export turnover to India last year reached $7.9 billion, up 26.7 per cent on-year, compared to 2021; Vietnam’s import turnover from India was approximately $7.1 billion, up 1.7 per cent on-year.

By the end of 2022, India had invested in 346 projects here registered at more than $1 billion, ranking 24th out of 139 countries and territories doing business in Vietnam. To date, Dong Thap has attracted two projects from India: Sethia Hemraj Rice Oil and Olam Global Agri Vietnam.

Madan Mohan Sethi, consul general of India in Ho Chi Minh City said, “I believe that the event will mark a turning point in the cooperation and bring positive results going forward. We expect the province to dispatch highly-skilled labourers to India to learn about our mango processing experience. If our investors can open processing factories here, the province will become a new mango processing centre in Vietnam.”

Dong Thap is an agricultural province with abundant raw materials with a rice output of over three million tonnes per year; aquatic products with over 500,000 tonnes per year, and fruit trees 400,000 tonnes per year, especially mangoes.