Mumbai: Vietnam on Friday sought investments from Indian industry in areas such as oil & gas, technology and infrastructure, saying that trade between the two nations could go up to US$ 7 billion by 2015.

Vietnam's Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said here that his country offers good opportunities to investors, and the bilateral ties were growing fast with focus on economic, trade and investment cooperation.

"Bilateral ties have been developing in a fruitful way and are now increasing both in width and depth as economic, trade and investment cooperation is gaining the attention of both the governments," Trong told a business gathering organised by the industry bodies.

The Vietnamese leader is at the last leg of his four-day visit to the country to strengthen bilateral and strategic partnerships and cooperation. Earlier in the week, he was in the Capital.

Presenting Vietnam as a good investment destination, he invited Indian investments in IT, technology, agriculture, infrastructure, oil and gas among others.

The two-way trade has grown by an average 12 per cent in recent years to US$ 3.94 billion in 2012, Trong said, adding that "it is possible that the trade turnover could touch US$ 7 billion by 2015. It has been agreed by both the sides to work towards scaling it up US$ 15 billion by 2020".

In terms of investment from here, Trong said "up to June 2013, India has invested in 74 projects worth over US$ 2.5 billion".

Trong described the MoU between the Tatas and MOIT of Vietnam for setting up the Long Phu II Thermal Power Plant at an investment of US$ 1.8 billion in Vietnam as the "biggest" investment by an Indian company there.

"This is the biggest Indian investment project in Vietnam and symbolises the vibrant economic and investment cooperation between the two nations," he said.

"I believe, this signals the rising interest of Indian businesses to tap the rich potential of the Vietnamese market," he added.

During the visit, the governments of both the nations inked an agreement to develop and expand oil exploration projects in the disputed South China Sea including allocation of new six oil blocks to ONGC Videsh on a nomination basis.

The agreement, along with seven more, was inked after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Trong held extensive talks on enhancing strategic ties.

Other pacts cover air services connectivity cooperation, production of classified documents and development of two 660-mw thermal plants in South Vietnam for an estimated US$ 1.8 billion by Tata Power.

By indiatvnews.com

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