President Patil embarks on 10-day visit to Vietnam, Indonesia

New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Taking the "Look East" policy to
new heights, President Pratibha Patil Monday embarks on a
10-day visit to Vietnam and Indonesia to further expand
India's bilateral ties with its ASEAN neighbours.

The high-level visit is expected to give a fresh impetus
to bilateral relations encompassing political, economic and
cultural ties with these economically and strategically
important countries.

"This visit essentially reaffirms India's commitment to
enhance our engagement with these countries, our close friends
within ASEAN fraternity. It is part of our 'Look East' policy
initiative," Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External
Affairs N Ravi said.

Besides enhancing ties in trade and investment, the visit
would also give India an opportunity to assess the present
state of relations in all facets -- political, economic and
cultural, he said.

Patil, who will be leaving for Ho Chi Minh City Monday,
will have meetings with her Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh
Triet and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, reviewing bilateral
relations between the two countries.

During her four-day stay in Vietnam, which would also
take her to Hanoi, the President would attend a business
meeting being organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry and the Vietnam Chambers of Commerce.

Indo-Vietnamese trade has increased manifold in recent
years. India has emerged as the 10th largest exporter of items
to Vietnam last year as total exports reached USD 1.3 billion.
The total trade crossed the USD 1.5 billion mark last year.

Major commodities exported from India to Vietnam during
last year were animal feed, machinery and equipment,
pharmaceuticals, ordinary metals, iron and steel, leather and
textile materials, medicinal ingredients, cotton of all kinds
and pesticides.

India's imports from Vietnam in the same period included
coal, pepper, computer hardware, rubber, cinnamon, garments
and textiles.

A number of private Indian software training companies
have been able to conclude franchise arrangements with
Vietnamese agencies on commercial terms without any
international funding.

Three Indian companies, NIIT, APTECH and TATA Infotech
have so far opened over 50 franchised IT training centres in
Vietnam. Other IT majors like Satyam computers and Wipro are
also closely watching investment opportunities in Vietnam.

During her five-day stay in Indonesia, a key strategic
partner of India in the 10-member Association of South East
Asian Nations, the President would meet her counterpart Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono.

Yudhoyono, who visited India in 2005, signed a Joint
Declaration with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the
Establishment of a New Strategic Partnership between the two
countries.

Both countries have an active defence cooperation in
terms of exchange of visits, ship visits and training
cooperation.

Bi-annual coordinated joint patrolling between the two
countries was initiated in 2002 to check piracy, smuggling and
transnational crimes and there have been high level exchanges
between the services of the two countries and goodwill visits
of naval ships.

Indonesia is the third largest trading partner of India
in ASEAN and the volume trade exceeded USD 6.5 billion last
year.

Indonesia is a major exporter of palm oil to India which
currently imports more than two million tonnes of the
commodity from that country.

"The visits would reaffirm India's pursuit of closer and
enduring partnership with these countries. It would be yet
another milestone in ensuring that India's engagement remains
strong and beneficial," Ravi said. PTI MS
RKM