Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met here on Thursday with the visiting Indian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma, during which he praised the Indian guest's visit, saying it would contribute to promoting cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam and India have maintained traditional and friendly relationship over the years, and expanded it to the strategic partnership in all-sided cooperation, said the Vietnamese PM.

He confirmed that Vietnam will try its best to further develop the traditional friendship and strategic partnership with practical results and mutual benefits for both sides, as well as to support Indian companies to invest in Vietnam.

Dung also suggested the two countries closely coordinate in organizing events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam- India diplomatic relations (Jan. 1972-2012) and the 5th anniversary of their strategic partnership (July 2007-2012).

Indian minister Sharma expressed his delight at visiting Vietnam in this significant year, and his impression on the country's socio-economic achievements.

Along with implementing the signed cooperative agreements and expanding more new ones, the two sides should establish a joint committee at the deputy-ministerial level to solve any problems that occur unexpectedly, especially those in the areas of energy, information technology and pharmaceuticals, said Sharma.

He expressed his confidence in both sides' efforts to boost the two-way trade turnover to reach 7 billion U.S. dollars by 2015, as agreed upon by their high-ranking leaders.

In the last decade, Vietnam-India two-way trade value increased 14 times with an annual average growth of 48 percent. Last year, it reached nearly 4 billion U.S. dollars.