Farewell Call by Indian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho Leaders

Chaired the meeting on the morning of September 07^th 2017, Mr. Tran Quoc Trung - Secretary of the municipal Party Committee welcomed Ms. Smita Pant, Indian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh city and her colleagues to Can Tho city. Mr. Trung congratulated Ms. Smita Pant for her excellent fulfillment of her assignments under the role of the Consul General in Vietnam.

Mr. Trung highly appreciated Ms. Consul General's contributions to the expansion and development of the relationship between Can Tho city and Indian partners. These have been reflected via frequent cultural exchanges activities; business matching events under the forms of G2B, B2B; information share and mutual visits between Can Tho city and the Consulate  General of India in Ho Chi Minh city. Such contributions have helped to tighten and enhance the mutual understanding of both sides, which lays a strong foundation for the diplomatic relationship and the strategic partnership between India and Vietnam.

City leaders received Indian Consul General at the farewell call on September 07^th, 2017

In his remarks at the meeting, Mr. Trung informed that the bilateral trade turnovers in 2016 between Can Tho city and India reached 4.5 million and nearly 3 million USD for export and import activities respectively. India has not had any FDI, NGO and ODA projects in Can Tho city yet. At present, there is only one company named Tata (originated in India but its headquarter located in Singapore) investing in Can Tho with the total amount of 500,000 USD. These numbers are so humble in comparison with the potentials and opportunities of both sides.

Therefore, Mr. Trung expected that under her new position, the Consul General could act on behalf of Can Tho city to connect it with Indian companies, enterprises so as to boost the cooperation relationship with and call for investment from India. Before finishing his part, Mr. Trung additionally expressed his sincere gratitude towards support given by the Indian government by granting scholarships to staff, cadres of Can Tho city to attend short-term training courses in India for skill and capacity enhancement.

Speaking for her part, Ms. Smita Pant showed her heart-felt thankfulness for good and responsive cooperation with Can Tho city. Furthermore, it was because of excellent help provided by Can Tho city authorities that she could finish her term with no difficulties. She noted that the bilateral trade turnovers between India and the Mekong Delta region have been increasing remarkably. Among cities and provinces in the region, Tien Giang has reached the most amazing achievements with 125 million USD (85 million USD from exporting activities).

She also agreed with Mr. Trung's remarks that Can Tho city and the Consulate General of Ho Chi Minh city need to join hands to augment the cooperation of both sides in various areas, not only trade. To do that, Ms. Smita Pant suggested frequent visits by Can Tho delegations to India should be conducted so that relevant stakeholders of the city can discuss directly investment policies and incentives with Indian partners.

Ms. Smita Pant added that India is now opting to sector-focus options in its development policies with foreign countries. For example, fruit and vegetable products would be further expanded with Tien Giang province while tourism, aquaculture and pepper would be selected with Kien Giang province. For Can Tho city, as the center of the Mekong Delta region, more areas should be concentrated on such as high-tech agriculture, trade, education, aquaculture (especially for pangasius products), tourism and IT.

On the occasion of the meeting, Ms. Smita Pant invited Can Tho city leaders to participate in a workshop on Cooperation between India and Mekong Delta cities, provinces in  agricultural and fishery fields organized in Tien Giang province in October, 2017 so that they can meet Indian counterparts and potential investors  in person to discuss possible cooperation opportunities in the future with a focus on Can Tho's prioritized projects.

Ms. Smita Pant finally confirmed that the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh city will always be ready and enthusiastically cooperate with Can Tho city to carry out activities to connect two countries as well as Can Tho city with Indian partners.