Through the visit, Slovakia - a new European Union member - wants to further boost multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam, particularly in economics, trade and investment.

Relations between Vietnam and Slovakia have developed considerably in recent times, marked by high-level visit exchanges from both sides. They included visits to Slovakia by Chairman of the National Assembly Nong Duc Manh in 1995, Vice State President Tran Duc Luong in 1994 and Vice State President Truong My Hoa in 2005. Meanwhile, Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar visited Vietnam in 1994 and later delegations of the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the Southeast Asian nation.

However, economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries has not yet matched their potential. Bilateral trade exchanges remain modest at approximately US$20 million a year. Of the figure, Vietnam exports garments, food, farm products and materials to Slovakia worth US$18-19 million.  

Over the past years, the Vietnamese community in Slovakia has helped promote the friendship and mutual understanding between the two countries’ people. There are about 2,000 Vietnamese nationals residing in Slovakia and they have integrated well into the local community.

Located in East Europe, Slovakia covers an area of 49,000km² with a population of 5.4 million. In its economic structure, Slovakia gives priority to developing services such as financial and banking, insurance, tourism, telecommunications, transport and healthcare, which make up more than 66 percent of the country’s GDP. The industrial sector makes up the remaining 30 percent of its GDP, focusing on automobile assembling, machinery and electrical equipment manufacturing and metallurgy.

According to the World Bank, Slovakia obtains the highest GDP growth rate among the newly-admitted EU members, reaching five percent annually.