Foreign ministers from Vietnam and India held talks on Monday to promote trade and economic ties, 50 years after India's founding prime minister made a historic visit to Hanoi. Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh arrived on Saturday for a three-day visit, which included a seminar Sunday celebrating the landmark meeting between late Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh. Nehru met Ho Chi Minh on Oct. 17, 1954, in Hanoi, just a week after the capital was liberated from the French colonialists. Singh gave the Vietnamese a copy of a picture taken during that meeting. "The celebrations will also help educate and encourage the young generations of our two countries to preserve and promote further this invaluable heritage," Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien told Singh at the Vietnam-India Joint Commission meeting on Monday. During his visit, Singh met with legendary Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, 93, the military mastermind behind the defeats of the French and later the Americans. Monday's Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper quoted Giap as telling Singh that Ho Chi Minh and Nehru laid the foundation for the countries' special relationship. The Joint Commission focused on how to increase bilateral trade, and also discussed energy and education cooperation, according to the Indian Embassy in Hanoi. Singh was to meet Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung before returning home Monday night. Two-way trade between Vietnam and India totaled US$525 million (euro 421 million) last year.
