President Pratibha Patil has favored enhanced economic cooperation between India and Vietnam through "walking together". She also called for linking their commercial hubs Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City as "sister cities".

"As our two nations stood by each other in the past, and as we stand now at the threshold of prosperity, it would be our endeavour to walk together, hand-in-hand, for future cooperation," Patil said at a dinner in Ho-chi-Minnh city.

The dinner was hosted in her honour by Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Le Hoang Quan.

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam),Nov. 24 : To strengthen and further enhance India’s bilateral ties with South East Asian countries, the Indian President, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, reached Vietnam on Monday on the first leg of her ten-day tour to Vietnam and Indonesia.

The President’s visit to these countries is being seen as part of an effort to give a fresh impetus to India''s "Look East" policy.

New Delhi - Indian President Pratibha Patil Monday embarked on a visit to Vietnam and Indonesia that is expected to give a new impetus to India's "Look-East" policy and consolidate ties with these countries, officials said.

"The tour is aimed at giving momentum to India's relations with the economically important countries in the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) region," a spokesman of the President's Office said.

Patil is scheduled to hold talks with the top leadership of those countries during her tour that will conclude December 3.

Hanoi - Vietnam's stock market hit its lowest mark in nearly three years Monday as the country's economic outlook worsened.

The VN-Index today closed down 1.03 points, or 0.32 percent, at 317.9, the lowest level since February 2006.

"Local traders don't want to buy at this time as they see the global market continue to fall," said Phan Hong Quan, director of Eurocapital Securities in Hanoi. "They favour holding cash, waiting for signs that the market is rebounding."

Hanoi - Police in southern Vietnam arrested two men for plotting to sell a boy to a cafe owner, telling her the child could fetch a high price from a foreign couple looking to adopt, a police official said Monday.

"We are trying to trace Ty's family but it is very hard because he could not remember anything about his parents, his full name or where he lived," said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Song of the Tan Phu District police department in Ho Chi Minh City.

"He only said he was about 6 years old."

Hanoi - Motorists in southern Vietnam are being shortchanged at the pump as more and more petrol stations are cheating customers, state news reported Saturday.

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology estimated that customers are being cheated out of 32 million dollars a year, the report said.

Much of the fuel losses occur because the petrol is adulterated or substandard, Vo Viet Ha, a city inspector told a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.