Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the National Assembly in Hanoi. (Agence France-Presse)
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will be on a two-day visit to India next week, the external affairs ministry said on Friday.
"Prime Minister of Vietnam will be on a state visit to India Oct 27-28," external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Friday.
The spokesperson added the visit will focus on increasing the economic cooperation between the two countries.
He said that Nguyen Tan Dung will first visit Bodh Gaya on Oct 27 and then meet the Bihar chief minister. He would fly to Delhi the same evening.
On Oct 28, he would be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt and then will visit Rajghat.
The Vietnamese prime minister would then meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
He would have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House and will call on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.
Sanjay Bhattacharyya, joint secretary (South) in the ministry of external affairs, said both India and Vietnam are seeing a growth spurt and Asia has revived its economic growth.
"This (India-Vietnam) is a very strategic and robust relationship. We have sectoral working groups on various issues. The big focus is the economic engagement," he said.
"Economic engagement will be the top priority during the Vietnamese prime minister's visit," he added.
The senior official said that the Vietnamese prime minister would be accompanied by a 50-member strong delegation and the key areas of focus would be textiles, chemicals, machinery, leather, footwear and information technology.
There has been a significant development as far as investments are concerned. "Those Indian companies which have a presence in Vietnam will benefit," he added.
Mr Akbaruddin said that both countries have met their trade targets for 2015 already and the new targets would be decided by the prime ministers of the two countries when they meet.
Both countries have already achieved USD 7 billion trade target set for 2015.
Asked if China's concern on India's presence in the South China Sea will be an impediment to accepting Vietnam's offer of five additional oil blocks to it, Mr Akbaruddin said: "Vietnam has offered some oil blocks in South China sea. We are examining it and if they are commercially viable for us we will take that into account and proceed further.
"India and Vietnam relationship is not contingent on other countries. Our relationship is a bilateral one and we focus on those bilateral issues."
On India's extension of USD 100 million Line of Credit to Vietnam for purchase of defence equipment, Mr Bhattacharyya said it was under discussion for implementation and government will see the progress as negotiations continue between Vietnam and defence suppliers.
This would be the Vietnamese prime minister's third visit to India. He had earlier visited India in 2007 and 2012.