Vietnam PM to visit India at year-end

He lives in our hearts.President Ho Chi Minhs love for our country laid down the foundation of Vietnam-India relations on politics, diplomacy, economics, defense-security, education training, science and technology, and people-to-people ties.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will visit India at the end of 2021 to discuss with PM Narendra Modi measures to advance bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, the country's ambassador, Pham Sanh Chau, said here on Wednesday.

This will be his first visit to India since taking charge in April this year.

''Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is scheduled to pay an official visit to India at the end of 2021 to discuss with PM Modi measures to advance our bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership forward,'' the diplomat said at an event here.

During a telephonic conversation in July, Prime Minister Modi had congratulated Chinh on his appointment as the premier of Vietnam and invited him to undertake an official visit to India at an early suitable date.

PM Modi had expressed confidence that the India-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership will continue to become stronger under Chinh's able guidance.

Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi and Chau inaugurated a bust of Vietnam's founding father and President Ho Chi Minh at Kautilya Marg park in the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri.

This is the second bust of Ho Chi Minh in India, the first being in Kolkata. Chau said a bust of Mahatma Gandhi will be inaugurated in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on the occasion of his 152nd birth anniversary on October 2.

The city was named after President Ho Chi Minh in 1975 when Vietnam was unified.

''Mahatma Gandhi's bust will be standing in Tao Dan Park, the most open and beautiful park in Ho Chi Minh city. Is this a coincidence? No, this is destiny. A destiny that brought the two great men of mankind together in their thought that brought the Vietnamese and Indian people together. They have been, continue to be, and will always be great friends of each other,'' he said.

The bust of President Ho Chi Minh will stand forever as a reminder of the depth and the strength of the long-lasting cordial relationship dated more than 2,000 years ago when Buddhism started spreading from India to Vietnam, Chau said.

''Uncle Ho wrote over 60 articles, research papers, poems, letters, telegraph messages, and speeches about India and his experience with Indian leaders. His in-depth knowledge about India and its people and his close association with the then Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru has helped cement the Vietnam-India relationship,'' he said.

When Ho Chi Minh visited India officially in 1958, he brought flowers from Vietnam to pay tribute to Gandhi at Rajghat, Chau recalled.

He said one of the main features of the strategic ties between India and Vietnam is the solid foundation of the relationship that ''our leaders from the first generation to the following ones have laid down''.

Lekhi said the way Mahatma Gandhi and India live in the hearts of Vietnamese people, ''Ho Chi Minh is our hero, too. He lives in our hearts''.

''President Ho Chi Minh's love for our country laid down the foundation of Vietnam-India relations on politics, diplomacy, economics, defense-security, education training, science and technology, and people-to-people ties. The present political structure of both counties may be different, but we share a strong historical and cultural bond,'' she said.

''The two countries share their history for thousands of years. At that time, the border of India and Vietnam would have been a contiguous border. And even today, there are no borders in our hearts and minds,'' the minister said.