Participating in the delegation was the Director of the Institute of Americas Studies, Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Director of the Institute of Indian and Southwest Asian Studies, Deputy Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Indian and Asian Studies.
During the time in India, the delegation had a meeting with the Vietnamese Embassy in India; participate in the 2nd ICWA - VASS Dialogue in New Delhi and Dialogue at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru; Visit survey at Akshardham temple complex (New Delhi) and Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum in Bengaluru (Bangalore).
ICWA - VASS dialogue opened at 14:30 on 3/4/2019 with 3 sessions, attended by Dr. TCA Raghavan, ICWA General Director; Vietnamese Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau; Dr. Sonu Trivedi, Director of the Centre for Vietnamese Studies; Prof. Jayachandra Reddy, Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian & Pacific Studies, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati; Dr. Pukhrem Shrishti, India Foundation; Mr. Sabya Dutta, Director of Asian Confluence Center; many ICWA staff and experts, scholars from research institutions and universities in India such as Calcutta University, Jawaharlal Nehru University...
The first session of the dialogue focused on exchanging regional and global issues. The second and the third session discussed problems related to economic and development cooperation between Vietnam and India; promoting collaboration through citizen diplomacy in fields such as science, technology, culture, education, tourism…
In terms of economic and development cooperation, the scholars have made profound assessments about the status of cooperation between Vietnam and India, including achievements as well as limitations, and pointed out some cooperation opportunities between the two countries in the future. Vietnamese and Indian scholars said that the two countries achieved certain achievement in bilateral trade; the import and export index has continuously increased in recent years.
At the dialogue, Vietnamese and Indian scholars agreed that, although Vietnam and India have a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and deep political trust, this has not been adequately expressed in bilateral cooperation in trade and investment. Dialogue also addressed challenges in bilateral ties, including the difficulty of effectively implementing signed agreements, the lack of information in trade cooperation, the inefficiencies of diplomatic relations, cultural differences in general, business culture in particular between the two countries…
On promoting cooperation through citizen diplomacy, human connection, session 3 of the dialogue addressed the current situation and future of Vietnam and India cooperation in the fields of culture, education, tourism, science, technology, movies, mass communication…
Wishing to deepen the bilateral ties between Vietnam and India, scholars have identified the content that needs further implementation to promote bilateral ties. The scholars at said that Vietnam and India have many opportunities to promote bilateral cooperation as well as tripartite cooperation between Vietnam and India and the third party like Korea, Russia, and Japan.
In economic and development cooperation, India and Vietnam need to focus on (1) exploiting areas where India has strengths such as high technology, software industry, and electronics industry. Indian and Vietnamese scholars propose a tripartite partnership between Vietnam - India - Russia, Vietnam - India - Korea in economic cooperation. (2) Besides, the Vietnamese side should pay attention to exploiting Indian investment in CLMV countries. (3) Indian scholars emphasize the importance of establishing Indian banking facilities in Vietnam and Vietnamese banks in India. Prof. Ram Upendra Das said that if Indian banks were opened in Vietnam, it would help boost the confidence of Indian businesses in Vietnam. (4) Vietnam and India need to open direct flights between the two countries. (5) The need to exchange information, especially information about the market, business culture, the skills that the two sides need when working together. The two sides should have a strategy to overcome each other's lack of information. Although India has the Look East policy, the lack of information between the two sides is still enormous; and Vietnam's private sector needs more support to be able to do business in India. (6) Promoting cooperation mechanism between Vietnam and India at the local level, especially in Northeast India where there are many similarities with Vietnam.
On promoting cultural diplomacy, citizen diplomacy, and human connection, scholars have made recommendations on (1) establishing a Vietnamese Cultural Center in India; (2) encourage the Vietnam Center to open Vietnamese classes for Indians; (3) improve English for Vietnamese students by increasing the number of English courses in the ITEC program; (4) The Vietnamese side grants some language and cultural scholarships to Indian students; (5) opening a television channel to India on Vietnamese television, changing the selection of Indian films shown in Vietnam, selecting films suitable for young people's tastes; (6) promoting research on India in Vietnam and Vietnam in India through research institutions such as ICWA and VASS.
The dialogue with the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) took place on April 5, 2019, with the participation of Prof. Shailesh Nayak, Director of NIAS; Ambassador P.S. Raghavan; National Security Advisory Board - NSAB; many experts from the fields of science and technology of NIAS; Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee and Dr. Temjenmeren Ao from ICWA; many experts in the fields of defense, maritime, science, and technology from universities in Bengaluru like Christ University. The dialogue between VASS, ICWA, and NIAS consists of two sessions and focuses on discussing the position and role of India, Vietnam and the emerging world order; on Vietnam - India bilateral cooperation in defense, economy, science, and technology. Scholars emphasized that along with the upgrading of political-diplomatic relations to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; the cooperation between Vietnam and India has also taken many steps. Economic cooperation has been developing well, especially since 2016. In terms of science and technology, the two countries have signed an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation since 1978. Within the framework of bilateral cooperation, India has helped Vietnam improve the science and technology capacity, invest in software parks and technology centers of Vietnam. Defense cooperation between Vietnam and India is also deeply profound, demonstrating "strategic belief" between the two countries.
However, scholars shared their view that Vietnam - India cooperation in the fields of economy, science and technology, and defense still has certain limitations. The same economic structure of Vietnam and India, countries with an average income of 2,500 USD has difficulty in cooperating. The difference in science and technology level also makes the two sides unable to collaborate effectively. While India is one of the leading countries in science and technology, Vietnam is still a country with a relatively low level.
At the dialogue with NIAS, scholars argued that (1) Vietnam and India need to establish more active institutional connections. Although it is said to be a relationship “like a cloudless sky”, the two countries have not yet succeeded in promoting trade and development relations. (2) Trilateral cooperation between Vietnam - India, and Japan should be promoted when both Vietnam and India have good relations with Japan; promoting trilateral cooperation when Vietnam and India have shared many Russian technologies. (3) Vietnam and India have large areas of difference such as high technology, defense technology, and rocket development. India, especially Bengaluru, is home to the best minds. If we can exploit the difference, bilateral cooperation will not stop at such a small number but will increase. (4) The two countries should promote cooperation in the network security field, sharing information about risks to network security, and partnership in disaster management. (5) The renewable industry that India has the strength and opens up many opportunities for cooperation for the two countries. (6) Some Indian scholars believed that Vietnam should open the door for foreign investors come to invest in new technologies in Vietnam's exclusive economic zones. (7) NIAS is home to India's leading experts in science and technology. VASS can help connect NIAS with Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
On this occasion, the Vice President presented some scientific publications of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences to Indian research institutions and organizations.
Hang Nga
