Garment products being made at Thái Nguyên Garment Export Joint Stock Company in northern Thái Nguyên Province. Việt Nam and India made significant progress in the textile and garment trade last year, Viet Nam’s industry and trade ministry said. — VNA/VNS Hoàng Nguyên

NEW DELHI (VNS) — Việt Nam and India made significant progress in the textile and garment trade last year, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Đỗ Thắng Hải, said at the third meeting of the Việt Nam-India Joint Sub-Commission on Trade last week. 

Opening the meeting in New Delhi, India’s Secretary of Commerce from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Rita Teaotia, hailed the strong ties between Việt Nam and India. She also spoke highly of Việt Nam as the current co-ordinator between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the 2015-18 period. 
The partnership between the two countries had expanded into multiple fields, such as textiles and garments, she said, while noting that little progress had been made in pharmaceuticals. 
Teaotia said the two sides should enhance information exchange, particularly in trade and commerce, as well as strengthen connections in air and sea transportation. 
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Đỗ Thắng Hải said bilateral co-operation had made notable progress since the second meeting of the Việt Nam-India Joint Sub-Commission on Trade in Hà Nội last year, the highlight being textiles and garments, followed by energy and industry, footwear and chemicals. 
The deputy minister said the two nations should enhance regional value chains and identify ways to support businesses to further cement bilateral economic ties. He said India’s privileged credit package, worth US$300 million, for investments in Việt Nam’s garment and textile sector, should take effect soon. 
India could consider opening a bonded warehouse in Việt Nam to reduce costs and increase the competitiveness of its products, Hải said. 
During the occasion, Hải also had a working session with India’s Minister of Textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar, in which he said that Việt Nam enjoyed the benefits of a number of FTAs, including a large market for exports, and had the advantage of having skilled workers in the textiles and garments sector, while India was a large supplier of cotton and fabrics. 
The two countries could complement each other and tighten their partnership so as to integrate more deeply into global value chains, he said.

Gangwar said he would propose to the Indian government that it should address the remaining challenges in the two sides’ co-operation in textiles and garments, and that he hoped the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Việt Nam would give a push towards that end. — VNS