India-Vietnam textile cooperation: A win-win situation

The only way is the way forward

One way of fast-pacing India-Vietnam textile and apparel cooperation is breaking the language-barrier. While a limited number of people in Vietnam can speak English, hardly any Indian knows Vietnamese, creating a communication barrier. It is here that the various trade bodies and the Embassies can play a proactive and positive role.

For example, the Embassy of Vietnam in India and trade bodies like Texprocil, Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), and Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) can work out a programme aimed at imparting Vietnamese language skills to the required personnel. The Embassy can help get a person from the textile and garment industry in know of both English and Vietnamese languages, while the trade associations can send a circular to its members asking them to nominate people for learning the language with special emphasis on textile-related terms.

Such a programme needs to be linked with business-to-business contact meetings, scheduled much in advance, so that employers can nominate themselves or their staff accordingly for picking up Vietnamese language skills. Knowing the language will create an ease in conversation and entrepreneurs can quickly jump to more important things that could lead to enhanced business relations, including setting up joint ventures both in India and Vietnam.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India