This was revealed at a conference held in HCM City yesterday by Pankaj Kapoor, chairman of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Kapoor said companies from Haryana, a state that borders the Indian capital of New Delhi, were looking for co-operation opportunities in investment and trade with Vietnamese counterparts in general and those in HCM City in particular.

Abhay Thakur, the Consul General of India in HCM City, noted at the conference that many delegations from India had visited Viet Nam recently to seek business and investment opportunities.

However, both sides had not taken full advantage of the great potential that exists for Indian and Vietnamese companies to do business with each other, he added.

One of the challenges was the language barrier, which had not been adequately addressed, he said.

He also said that India’s business community in Viet Nam was so small to boost trade relations between the two countries to match existing potential.

However, conference participants expressed optimism that trade relations between the two countries would be strengthened considerably in the coming time as many trade promotion programmes have been carried out and the traditional relationship between the two countries has been further strengthened.

Another good sign was that many states in India are setting up relations with cities and provinces in Viet Nam to look for investment opportunities.

Vietnamese firms could benefit immensely from developing and widening their business with India, Thakur said.

Trade relations among the two countries has increased steadily in recent years. In fact, the last 10 years have seen bilateral trade increase 20 times, the conference heard.

Bilateral trade turnover last year stood at US$4 billion and is estimated to increase to $7 billion by 2015.

Viet Nam mostly exports mobile phones, coffee, pepper, and rubber to India while importing medicines and several raw materials for production and processing.