New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) India and Vietnam today decided to work for an early conclusion of India-ASEAN free trade pact in services apart from setting a bilateral trade target of USD 7 billion by 2015 to give a boost to economic ties. India and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) have already implemented the free trade pact in goods last year and are engaged in intense negotiations to widen the base of the pact by including services and investments. The announcements were made after Vietnamese President Troung Tan Sang and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held comprehensive talks on bilateral issues to boost strategic and trade ties. We have set ourselves the target to increase it to 7 billion US dollars by 2015. We have agreed to work towards an early finalization of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement in Services and Investment, Singh said, adding India is committed to greater investment flows between the countries. Last year, India-Vietnam bilateral trade stood at USD 2.7 billion. Several Indian companies are working in Vietnam and we similarly welcome Vietnamese investments in India. We will continue to render assistance to Vietnam in its capacity- building and human resource development efforts, he said. Sang also sought Indian investments in sectors like infrastructure, oil exploration, power, IT and pharmaceutical. The two sides also inked a pact in civil aviation, paving way for direct flights between the two country and also in the field of oil and gas exploration. An agreement was signed between Jet Airways and Vietnam Airlines under which direct flights between the two countries will be started from the third quarter of 2012. The overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), ONGC Videsh Ltd signed a pact with Vietnam's national oil company PetroVietnam to jointly explore oil and gas in the South-East nation and third countries. In this visit of mine, the focus is on bilateral relations, especially with regard to trade and commerce. India has technology and it should focus on big-scale projects in Vietnam, Truong said. He said Vietnam needs major investments as part of its 10-year Economic Plan (2011-20) and said Indian firms should take part in it urgently. Truong also assured India of early implementation of Tata Steel's USD 5 billion project in Ha Tinh province which is pending since 2007. Speaking on the occasion, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said his country is facing a huge trade deficit with India and to bridge this gap, it would like to increase its exports to India particularly agricultural products.
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