Vice President leaves for 4-day visit to Vietnam

Jan 14 Vice President Mohd. Hamid Ansari has left on a four-day visit to Vietnam today. His visit marks the 40th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties and 5th anniversary of strategic partnership between the two countries. The objective of the visit is to give further impetus to ties between the two countries and is expected to sign some strategic, trade and other bilateral agreements. Ansari will also visit Ho Chi Minh city where he will meet the Indian diaspora. Vietnam has spoken out openly against Chinese intervention in the South China Sea, an area where India and China had some issues a few months back. The two countries are also working on increasing cooperation in fields of defence and security.India has been providing training to Vietnamese forces. Indian Navy has also made port calls in Vietnam. Defence and strategic dialogues have taken place on several occasions between the two countries. Before Ansari's visit, Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi had paid a four-day visit to Vietnam. Bilateral trade between India and Vietnam stood at 4 billion US Dollar last year and is expected to go up to 7 billion US Dollar by the end of this year. India is also examining possible projects in the fields of IT, Agriculture, oil and gas. 70 Indian projects by different companies are under execution in these sectors in Vietnam. The Vice President will discuss bilateral issues with the President, Vice President and Prime Minister of Vietnam. India considers Vietnam as an important part of its Look East Policy.

New Shatabadi Train flagged off between Chandigarh and New Delhi

Jan 14 Railway Minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal today flagged off a new Shatabadi Train between Chandigarh and New Delhi from Chandigarh railway station. This train will leave Chandigarh at 11.40 in the forenoon and reach at new Delhi at 3.00 p.m. in the afternoon .In its return journey train will leave New Delhi at 7.15 p.m. and will reach at Chandigarh at 10.35p.m. It is first Shatabadi from which will originate from Chandigah while two other shatabadi trains are running between Kalka and New Delhi via Chandigarh. New train will run from Monday to Saturday and it will not run on Sunday.