A seminar on India and Vietnam’s traditional relations and their future prospects for cooperation was held in the Indian city of Kolkata on September 20.

The seminar, marking the 64th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day, introduced a book titled “Indian cultural influence in Vietnam” by Geetesh Sharma, President of the India-Vietnam Solidarity Committee.

Also attending the event were H. M. Halim, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal State, Indian historian Amalendu De and Nguyen Tuan Anh, a representative of the Vietnamese embassy in India.

At the seminar, many Indian scholars praised the achievements of the Vietnamese people in the process of national reform and development. They called on the two countries’ people to promote cultural exchange and dialogue and to accelerate the opening of an airway from Kolkata to Ho Chi Minh City as well as of a Vietnamese Consulate General in Kolkata.

On this occasion, officials from the Indian-Vietnam Solidarity Committee and representatives of Vietnam’s embassy in India laid wreaths at the Ho Chi Minh Presidential monument in the Indian city.