Vietnam is Czechia’s most important partner in Southeast Asia, says Fiala
VOV.VN - The Czech Republic considers Vietnam its most important partner in Southeast Asia and wants to ramp up cooperation with Vietnam in all fields, Prime Minister Petr Fiala told his host, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, during their talks in Hanoi on April 21.
Fiala, who is in Hano for an official visit to Vietnam on April 20-22, said Vietnam is a potential economic partner of the Czech Republic, and more and more Czech businesses are interested in expanding their investment and business in Vietnam.
Chinh for his part reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of promoting relations with its traditional friends, including the Czech Republic, a priority partner in central Europe.
He welcomed Fiala on his first official visit to Vietnam which he said would provide fresh impetus to the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.
Both host and guest shared the view that the two countries should increase the exchange of high-level delegations to outline orientations for future cooperation and particularly to improve the efficiency of cooperation mechanism.
The two sides should establish a new cooperation framework to make a breakthrough in bilateral cooperation, they stressed.
The PMs acknowledged the two sides’ efforts in bolstering trade exchanges on the back of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), noting two-way trade last year hitting US$848 million, a year-on-year rise of 15%.
They agreed to raise the annual trade figure to US$1 billion in the next one or two years by fully and effectively implementing the EVFTA and improving the efficiency of the Joint-Governmental Committee on economic cooperation.
They consented to encourage Czech businesses to promote investment in Vietnam, especially in the fields of Czech strength such as automobile manufacturing, digital transformation, renewable energy, environment, and infrastructure construction.
They also agreed to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products to enter the Czech market.
Chinh welcomed the Czech Republic’s ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and asked it to lobby other EU member states to soon ratify the deal.
Meanwhile, Fiala said the Czech Republic supports strengthening cooperation on sustainable fisheries development between the European Union and Vietnam, and expects the European Commission will soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood exported to the bloc.
The two leaders agreed to step up cooperation in security-defense, culture, education-training, labour, science-technology, transportation, and tourism. To this end, they said the two sides will soon consider opening cultural centres in each country and direct flights to promote investment, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.
Chinh thanked the Czech Government for creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese expatriates to integrate and live stably in their host country, making a positive contribution to local socio-economic development and bridging the friendly ties between the two countries.
The two PMs also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, affirming that the two countries should continue to closely coordinate and support each other at international forums and organizations.
With regard to the East Sea issue, the two sides reaffirmed their support for the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).
After the talks, the two PMs witnessed the signing of cooperation documents in the field of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, investment and education.
