Vietnamese and Indian delegations besides the statue of Indian poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore in Bắc Ninh Province's Friendship Park. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Thương

BẮC NINH — A delegation of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs led by Minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday visited the northern province of Bắc Ninh and attended a ceremony to inaugurate a statue of the famous Indian poet and writer, Rabindranath Tagore, in the province’s capital, Bắc Ninh City.

The statue of Tagore is a gift from the Indian Government to Việt Nam.

Addressing the ceremony, Secretary of the Bắc Ninh Party Committee Nguyễn Anh Tuấn highlighted the traditional friendship of Việt Nam and India that takes root in the cultural and religious exchanges more than 2,000 years ago and was fostered by President Hồ Chí Minh and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

He said over the past more than 50 years, India has been a reliable partner that regularly expresses its support of Việt Nam's development path and policies at many regional and international forums.

The cooperation between the two countries have reaped many important achievements not only in politics-diplomacy but also in economics and defence-security, turning them into reliable and important partners of each other, matching their comprehensive strategic partnership, Tuấn said.

He stressed that the statue of the great Indian poet is the first placed at the International Friendship Park of Bắc Ninh, which the province builds to honour the cooperation and friendship between the province and foreign countries.  

Minister S. Jaishankar thanked the government and people of Bắc Ninh for holding the ceremony to inaugurate the statue of Tagore. He said he was surprised by Vietnamese people’s admiration for the Indian poet whose works are widely known in Việt Nam and even introduced in Việt Nam's school textbook.

He recalled that Indian monks had come to Luy Lâu in Bắc Ninh to teach Buddhism in the ancient time, turning it into a famous Buddhism centre in Việt Nam, which constitutes a special spiritual and cultural bond between India and Bắc Ninh.

After the ceremony, the Indian minister and Bắc Ninh leaders planted trees at the park and visited Phật Tích Pagoda in Tiên Du District. — VNS