Vietnamese top party leader to visit India

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong will pay a state-level visit to India from Tuesday to Friday at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPV External Committee announced on Monday. "Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong's forthcoming visit to India aims to expand the strategic partnership between India and Vietnam and ensure bilateral cooperation is kept central to the five major pillars of their partnership," said a notice from the CPV External Committee. Vietnamese media on Monday quoted Indian Foreign Ministry's press release as saying that within the framework of the visit, Indian prime minister and Vietnamese party leader will hold talks on the India-Vietnam strategic partnership. Trong is scheduled to pay courtesy visits to Indian President Pranab Mukhejee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Speaker of Indian Lok Sabha (lower house) Meira Kumar, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, and leaders of India's major parties. Trong will also visit Mumbai city and meet with Maharashtra State Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, as well as attend a meeting with the Indian business community. India and Vietnam established official diplomatic relations in 1972, and raised their relationship to the strategic partnership level in 2007. According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, two- way trade is still modest, reaching 3.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. The two sides aim to increase bilateral trade to 7 billion dollars by 2015 and reduce levels of import surplus from Vietnam. As of June 2013, India has invested in 73 projects in Vietnam, worth more than 253 million dollars and ranking 30th among 101 countries and regions investing in the country. Meanwhile, Vietnam has poured 23.6 million dollars into three projects in India.