India

India will not reconsider its oil and gas cooperation with Vietnam, said Geeta Kochhar, faculty member of the Center for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Kochhar made the judgment in the context of China's illegal oil and gas activities in the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, including the deployment of Chinese oil survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8 and its escorts to Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. "If China really wants to be assertive of not letting India cooperate with Vietnam, I do not think India would accept that and they should not accept that," Kochhar said Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference on India's relations with neighboring countries held Tuesday in Hanoi by the Vietnam Institute of Indian and Southwest Asian Studies (VIISAS). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined on "not accepting any kind of domination or control by any powers in the region," she said. She added … [Read more...] about India will stand firm on oil and gas cooperation with Vietnam: experts

GUWAHATI, India -- Protesters attacked train stations in India’s northeast, authorities said on Thursday, angry over a new federal law that would make it easier for non-Muslim minorities from some neighboring countries to seek Indian citizenship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has said the Citizenship Amendment Bill, approved by parliament on Wednesday, was meant to protect minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Protesters in the northeastern state of Assam, which shares a border with Bangladesh, say the measure will open the region to a flood of foreigners. Others said the bigger problem with the new law was that it undermined India’s secular constitution by not offering protection to Muslims. Police fired tear gas in Assam’s main city of Guwahati to break up small groups of people who were demonstrating in the streets, defying a curfew imposed on Wednesday. “This is a spontaneous public outburst,” said … [Read more...] about Protesters set fire to train stations in India over citizenship law

Attending the meeting were representatives from the Ministry of National Defense, and the Embassy of India in Vietnam. At the meeting. Photo: mod.gov.vn This year marks the 55th founding anniversary of the ITEC program, a bilateral assistance program run by the Government of India. Vietnam and India started its partnership in the framework of the ITEC program in the 1970s. Annually, the Indian Ministry of Defense grants around 50 full scholarships to Vietnamese military trainees to study at its major institutes and schools. This program plays an important role in promoting the bilateral cooperation between the two countries and helps develop human resources for different fields in Vietnam. Addressing the meeting, a representative from the Ministry of National Defense thanked the Government and Ministry of Defense of India and emphasized that the human resource training cooperation is one of the most effective ways to help the two countries get closer. He also … [Read more...] about Gathering for Vietnamese troops who studied in India

Indian rice export prices rebounded this week from three-year lows as exporters increased rates to compensate for a rising rupee, while low supply and an uptick in demand from Cuba, Iraq and Philippines pushed up Vietnamese rates. Top exporter India’s 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted around $358-$363 per tonne this week, up from last week’s $356-$361, which was the lowest since January 2017. The appreciation in the rupee has been forcing traders to raise prices, but demand is still subdued, said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The Indian rupee on Thursday rose to its highest level in more than a month, trimming exporters’ margin from overseas sales. India’s rice exports in October fell 42% year-on-year to 485,898 tonnes, government data showed, due to weak demand from African countries for non-basmati rice. In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice were quoted at $350 a tonne on Thursday, up slightly from $345 last … [Read more...] about India rice prices rebound, Vietnam sees uptick in demand

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at conference in the delta’s Can Tho City Tuesday that out of the country’s 7.8 million hectares of arable land, 4.1 million hectares were reserved for rice. Solutions to produce good products, reduce prices, ensure sufficient output and adapt to climate change need to be discussed, he said, adding that farmers should not over-plant rice so as to prevent a reduction in soil quality and environmental pollution. Authorities should have policies to support key agricultural products, and to help farmers access resources necessary to produce them, bring their prices down and increasing profits, Phuc said. Cutting rice production and switching to other crops has been an issue on the table for a while now, since the crop was a "risky one" and "cannot ensure economic efficiency," Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong had said at a National Assembly session last month. Cutting down 500,000 hectares under paddy from the … [Read more...] about Mekong Delta paddy fields to grow higher-value crops, animals: PM