Modi Government To Give Greater Push To Look East Policy: Sushma

China and Vietnam are locked in a stand-off over the contested South China Sea after Beijing positioned an oil rig near the Paracel islands, which Hanoi claims as its territory, in May.

Elaborating on India's Look East Policy, Sushma Swaraj said that under the Modi government "it is time to make it Acting East and Vietnam has a huge role to play in it."

She said she would look into newer areas of cooperation during her bilateral talks with President Truong Tan Sang and Vice President Nguyan Tha Doan and other senior officials.

Praising the contribution of the around 2,000 Indian diaspora to Vietnam's development and in the building of ties with the southeast Asian nation with which India has age old ties, Sushma Swaraj said: "India and Vietnam are just not geographically close, but have very, very close ties."

The visit to Vietnam is Sushma Swaraj's first stand-alone visit to Southeast Asia. The last high level visit from Vietnam was by Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Ph Trong, last November.

During Trong's visit Vietnam had invited India to hunt for oil and gas in the disputed South China Sea. India had also made Hanoi the offer of $100 million line of credit for the purchase of four Offshore Patrol Vessels.

Both the countries also have fairly robust economic ties and the bilateral trade stands at $8 billion, of which Indian exports to the country is about $5.4 billion.

"We see prospects in the current situation in terms of enhancing our ties including in areas such as textile, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products," external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said earlier.

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