Chairman of the People’s Committee (PC) Received New Consul General of India

On the afternoon of the 20^th November, 2017, Mr. Vo Thanh Thong, Chairman of the Municipal People's Committee and other leaders of departments and line agencies received Mr. Srikar Reddy, newly-accredited Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh city.

PC Chairman Vo Thanh Thong welcomed and conveyed his sincere congratulations to Mr. Srikar for being appointed to take the new assignment in Ho Chi Minh city. He expressed his high appreciation towards the strong and sustainable relationship between Vietnam and India in all sectors, i.e. economy, politics, economics, society etc.

Speaking about the cooperation between Can Tho city and India, Mr. Thanh Thong was thankful to the Indian government for support given to Can Tho city in HR training/ capacity development of its staff. As a city leader, he was happy with the positive results obtained by efforts of both sides, which were illustrated via the humble but increasing amount of the annual bilateral trade turnovers valued at around 8 million USD, which could get higher in the future because of more interests of Indian partners in Vietnam and Can Tho markets and investment environment.

At his remarks, Mr. Thanh Thong expected that during his term in Vietnam, Mr. Srikar could continuously provide concern and support to Can Tho city to tighten and deepen the existing good relationship in trade and educational sectors. For the others such as investment, culture and people-to-people relations, they need to be further expanded for mutual understanding and benefits of both sides.

"It takes time for us to gain desirable achievements in the above sectors. I, however, strongly believe that with our great relationship and strong commitments, we can reach the goals. Can Tho city and its leaders are ready to welcome and cooperate with Indian  companies, enterprises and investors to implement projects under friendly and straight-forward discussions because we consider them our family members. We would offer every favorable condition to them for their smooth investment and trading activities in Can Tho city.", affirmed Mr. Thanh Thong.

PC Chairman, Mr. Vo Thanh Thong and new Consul General of India, Mr. Srikar Reddy exchanged gifts at the courtesy call on 20^th November, 2017

In response, Mr. Srikar agreed with the comments on the wonderful relationship between Can Tho city and India, which has been shown some activities organized in the city such as the 8^th Vietnam – India People's Friendship Festival (2016), International Yoga Day (June, 2017), Indian Musical Program "Namo Fusion/ India – Vietnam Fusion Tour" (August, 2017) etc. In regards to the educational sector, so far Indian government has provided tens of scholarships to Can Tho staff, lecturers, officials to study in India.

In the trading aspect, Mr. Srikar mentioned that leaders of the two countries committed to reach the bilateral trade turnovers at 15 billion USD by 2020. As a result, in order to contribute to this goal, India in general and the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh city in particular are more than happy to join forces with Can Tho city and its relevant stakeholders to implement cooperation activities, programs/ projects not only limited to the three new aforesaid sectors but also in energy savings, pharmacy, textile, labor etc.

To deepen and expand the relationship in the current and other sectors as mentioned by his counterpart, Mr. Srikar suggested that Can Tho city should participate in the Conference on Agricultural Cooperation between India and Provinces in the Mekong Delta Region in Tien Giang province, co-organized on 28^th November, 2017. Mr, Srikar said that the event has been expected to attract a great number of high ranking delegations from public and private sectors of both Vietnam and India. He, therefore, think that it would be a great opportunity for G2B, B2B between Can Tho city and Indian side.

The meeting was ended by Mr. Thanh Thong confirmation on Can Tho city's participation in the conference in Tien Giang province.