Vietnam would like to set up a consulate office in Kolkata, ambassador of Vietnam Tarn Trong Khanh, said here today. |
In response, the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said he welcomed the ambassador's proposal to set up consulate office in Kolkata and promised state government help. |
Releasing the book. 'India-Vietnam Relations: First to Twentyfirst Century' by Geetesh Sharma in the city today , he said, "The state would provide support if the Vietnam wishes to set up a consulate office in our city." |
Speaking about the long relationship between Vietnam and India , Bhattacharjee said remarkable progress had been made by Vietnam in the last few years in fields like industry, agriculture and education. |
"Just 10 years back the country used to import food grains - it is an exporter today. Till a couple of years back it attracted large foreign direct investment (FDI) ", Bhattacharjee claimed without citing the source for his data. |
The CM said he hoped the volume of trade between the two nations would rise. "There should be increasing amount of collaboration in all respect - starting from industry to cultural areas," he urged. |
In addition, Bhattacharjee said the state would back the proposal of the ambassador to fly direct flights between Hanoi and Kolkata. Prof B Chatterjee, dean of arts- Jadavpur University pointed to the lack of availability of scope of research in the field of international relation between the two countries. |
"Indians can learn much from - there should be adequate scope for Indian researchers to conduct study in various fields of international relations ", Chatterjee claimed. |