Vietnam, India to Strengthen Cooperative Relationship: Two Prime MinistersVietnam and India will continuously consolidate and strengthen their friendly and cooperative relationship, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and his visiting Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee suggested during their talks Monday.During the talks, the two prime ministers expressed their happiness on the fine development of the friendly relationship and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries in the past, especially since Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong's visit to India in December 1999. In their talks the two sides agreed on the major direction and measures aiming at promoting the bilateral relationship in the depth and width in the coming days. The two sides also promised to further strengthen the cooperative activities in the regional and international forums. As the chairman of ASEAN, Vietnam welcomes Indian policies of promoting the cooperative relationship with ASEAN, Khai said in the talks. During the visit, Vietnam and India signed here Monday three agreements, including one on cooperation in using atomic energy for peaceful purpose, one on cultural exchange program between the two countries from 2001 to 2003 and one on cooperation on tourism. Vietnamese State President Tran Duc Luong met with Vajpayee on Monday afternoon, during which Luong expressed his confidence that the result of Vajpayee's visit to Vietnam and the signing of the cooperation agreements will create favorable conditions for the promoting cooperation in the fields of investment, trade, science and technology between the two countries in the 21st century. The Indian prime minister arrived here Sunday night, beginning his four-day official goodwill visit to Vietnam, which is the first leg of his South-East Asian trip. He is scheduled to begin his visit to Indonesia on January 10. |
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