The impressive bilateral trade value increases in 2013 have fuelled hopes for flourishing Vietnamese-Czech economic relations in the near future, said the Voice of Vietnam Radio (VOV).

Two-way trade turnover surpassed 500 million USD at the end of November 2013.

VOV quoted the Vietnamese Trade Office in the Czech Republic as saying that Vietnam’s export surplus with the East European market reached 383.7 million USD, while its imports were valued at 123.9 million USD - the first time exceeding 100 million USD for many years.

Vietnamese exports enjoying high turnover included seafood, coffee and spices, chemicals, plastics, leather products, garments, footwear, engineering products, electric-electronic-audio-TV equipment, and engine vehicles.

Vietnam’s imports were mainly engineering products, electric-electronic-audio-TV equipment, crystal and glass, medical equipment, and toys and sports equipment.

Vietnam was recently named as one of the 12 priority markets in Czech’s foreign trade policy in the 2011-2015 period.

It is expected that a trade promotion centre will be put into operation in Prague by early 2015 with the aim of promoting Vietnamese commodities in the European markets.

The centre will be set up by the associations of small- and medium-sized Vietnamese businesses in the Czech Republic and the association of Czech SMEs and retailers.

It will be further expanded with the aim of becoming a representative of Vietnam in the Czech market in particular and Europe in general by 2017.-VNA