Secretary of the Party Committee of central Đà Nẵng City Nguyễn Văn Quang (right) and Indian Ambassador to Việt Nam Sandeep Arya. — VNA/VNS Photo

ĐÀ NẴNG — Indian Ambassador to Việt Nam Sandeep Arya on Wednesday underlined the need to promote economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, saying that this is a good time for the two sides to intensify similarities, thus fostering development cooperation.

During a meeting with Secretary of the Party Committee of central Đà Nẵng City Nguyễn Văn Quang, the diplomat stated that the embassy will serve as a bridge connecting businesses of the two sides.

He said he believes that the two sides will further step up good cooperation relationships, especially in education, people-to-people diplomacy and culture exchange.

The ambassador stressed that he will persuade Vietnamese airlines to soon open more direct flights from Đà Nẵng to some other Indian localities, saying that this move can open more cooperation opportunities between Đà Nẵng’s tourism firms and hotel groups of India.

For his part, Quang briefed the guest on the city’s socio-economic development, and the potential for cooperation between the two sides to develop projects.

He said there is great potential and opportunities for Đà Nẵng to cooperate with India but the relations between Đà Nẵng and Indian localities still remain limited.

The city has not yet established twinning relations with any locality in India, he said, expressing the hope that the ambassador will pay attention to connecting an Indian locality with Đà Nẵng.

He suggested the Indian diplomat act as a bridge to promote investment cooperation in the fields of urban infrastructure, hi-tech industry, information technology, pharmacy, healthcare, and tourism, affirming that Đà Nẵng will select potential fields with high feasibility to prioritise cooperation with India in the near future.

As of 2022, Indian firms had poured capital into five projects in Đà Nẵng with a total registered investment of about US$14.7 million. There are three direct air routes connecting India and Đà Nẵng. In the first two months of 2023, Đà Nẵng attracted over 19,000 Indian tourists. — VNS