Indian Consul General

Next month marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. With this landmark year soon to commence, a flurry of celebrations are underway across Southeast Asia. In light of this, we caught up with Dr K Srikar Reddy, the Indian consul general based here in Ho Chi Minh City, to chat about the long-standing friendship and trading connections between India and Vietnam.

India and Vietnam have a long-held friendship, going back to the 2nd century where the Cham Kingdom in central Vietnam existed until roughly the 17th century. With such a long-standing relationship, it is no wonder that celebrations for Indian-born Gandhi’s birth anniversary, held on October 2, will also be held in Vietnam.

To kick off celebrations, the consulate is hiring a Vietnamese singer to record a video performance of Gandhi’s favourite song; Vaishnava Jana To. The video will be used across social media to spread awareness and grow an online following of further events throughout the year. Having inspired many international leaders such as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama, it is hoped that teaching Gandhi’s principles during the celebrations will attract people to learn and understand his peaceful beliefs at a variety of seminars and cultural events throughout the city.

Long History

Sitting with Dr Reddy in his light and breezy office in District 3, he tells me how the friendship between Vietnam and India has grown and developed over thousands of years. When the Cham Kingdom existed in central Vietnam, many temples were constructed.

“The My Son Temple complex is one example of these, it’s now marked out as a UNESCO world heritage site, built by the Cham people,” said Dr. Srikar Reddy.

“The Buddhist faith is another strong link between the two countries. Throughout the years many connections have developed between India and Vietnam and this has helped to create and sustain a longstanding relationship.” Interestingly, the French rule led to an even closer connection between the two countries.

Dr Reddy said many Indians from French territories, such as Pondicherry moved to Vietnam.

“After being brought here to help with the construction of roads, ports, banks and the postal network, many more Indians settled in Vietnam,” he said.

“This was a major factor in the growth of the Indian population in Vietnam.”

“At one point, there were 75,000 Indians dwelling in Ho Chi Minh City and Southern Vietnam. Due to this, there are now many Indian temples and mosques in Ho Chi Minh City, with two of the temples and one mosque being over 100 years old.”

Mass Exodus

However, following the war, a large proportion of the Indian population left Vietnam, leaving only a few hundred Indians after 1975. Slowly and surely, the Indian population is on the rise again, with a population of around 3,000 Indians now living in Ho Chi Minh City, and continuing to gradually increase. Much of the current Indian population are entrepreneurs, business men, and teachers at international schools.

Within the Indian population here in Ho Chi Minh City, many large associations have been formed to facilitate interaction within the community. The Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam (INCHAM) is one example. Made up of more than 200 members, most of whom are Indian businessmen, the group helps organise Indian cultural events and festivals.

Festival of Light

As Diwali approaches this year, INCHAM will be organising a large event, with an expected attendance of 1,500 people. Dr Reddy said the festival of light will be celebrated with an Indian cultural troupe performing traditional dance, as well as Bollywood dance, and all kinds of Indian food being served.

Among all of the different dishes that will be on offer, Dr Reddy said he will be enjoying a biryani, which he claims originates from his hometown, although the true origin of the biryani is still contested to this day.

Yet the relationship between India and Vietnam isn’t just one of festivals, food, culture and dance. In 1975, India granted “Most Favoured Nation” status to Vietnam, recognition that the recipient of this title must receive equal trade advantages by the country granting it. This meant advancing trade advantages such as low tariffs between India and Vietnam.

Trade has grown and matured between both countries to become mutually beneficial with the advent of two policies. The Look East and Act East policies of 1991 and 2014 respectively were important for the growth of commercial and economic trade. Dr Reddy said that bilateral trade has grown rapidly, within the last 20 years.

“It has grown more than 60 times. Whilst in the year 2000, bilateral trade amounted to US$200 million, and it reached US$12.83 billion in 2017/18,” he said.

Trade Partners

Both countries have developed and grown a different range of exports, and as a result, they can benefit from a strong trading partnership. Where India exports slightly more raw materials such as meat, shrimp, cotton, textiles, leather, as well as pharmaceuticals, Vietnam exports a range of technology including mobile phones, accessories, computer parts, as well as the very popular coffee.

Within the partnerships that have formed between both countries, there are important links for education as well. Dr Reddy said within the Indian Technical and Economic corporation programme, India offered 13 scholarships every year to officials and experts from Vietnam to undergo various teaching in Indian institutions of excellence, covering 40 different topic areas. With this educational partnership being very important to both countries, there are also 44 scholarships for long-term study in Indian Universities. He added that the Indian consulate has also facilitated more than 1,000 people from the southern provinces of Vietnam to train and learn in India.

Having only filled the position of consul general in October 2017, Dr Reddy hasn’t been in the position long, but it is clear that he has a busy year ahead of him here in Saigon.

Words by Jess Warren

Photo by Romain Garrigue.