At the event. (Photo: VNA) Appreciating the significance of the Czech PM’s visit toVietnam, Chinh affirmed Vietnam’s consistent policy of promoting relations withtraditional friends, with the Czech Republic as a priority partner.
Fiala expressed his delight at visiting Vietnam for thefirst time, confirming that his country attaches importance to its over-70-yearfriendship with Vietnam, always considers Vietnam the most importantpartner in Southeast Asian and hopes to develop bilateral cooperation in variousfields.
The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegationsat all levels, especially high-level ones, maintain the effectiveimplementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and discuss anew collaboration framework to create breakthroughs, and further deepen thetraditional friendship between the two countries.
In terms of economy and trade, the leaders welcomed therapid growth of bilateral trade turnover in recent years to reach 848 millionUSD in 2022. They agreed to set a target of hitting the 1 billion USD mark inthe next 1-2 years by continuing to fully and effectively implement the EU-VietnamFree Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and improve the effectiveness of the joint committeemechanism on economic cooperation. They will encourage Czech enterprises to promoteinvestment in Vietnam, especially in the fields of Czech strength such asautomobile manufacturing, digital transformation, renewable energy, the environment,and infrastructure.
PM Chinh asked the Czech Republic to help push other EUcountries to soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement(EVIPA). PM Fiala emphasised that Vietnam is a potential economic partner, andmore and more Czech businesses are interested in expanding their investment andbusiness in Vietnam.
Regarding the European Commission (EC)’s yellow card warningon Vietnam's seafood exports, the Czech leader stressed the need to strengthencooperation between the EU and Vietnam on sustainable fisheries development,and showed backing for the commission’s early removal of the yellow card.
The two leaders agreed to step up cooperation insecurity-defence, culture, education-training, labour, science-technology,transport, and tourism; and consider the opening of a cultural centre in eachcountry and direct air routes to promote investment, tourism andpeople-to-people exchanges.
The Vietnamese Government leader thanked the CzechGovernment for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community tolive stably and make positive contributions to the host country’ssocio-economic development. The Czech PM appreciated the role of the Vietnamese communityin the Czech Republic, which was recognised as an ethnic minority by the Czech governmentin 2013.
The two PMs also exchanged views on regional andinternational issues of mutual concern, and affirmed that the two countrieswill maintain close coordination and mutual support at international forums andorganisations.
Regarding the East Sea issue, they reaffirmed support of the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law,especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing ofcooperation documents in the field of mutual legal assistance in criminalmatters, investment and education.
Earlier, they visited a photo exhibition on political,diplomatic, economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries,organised by the Vietnam News Agency./.
VNA
