Vietnam desires stronger ties with Czech Republic

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh Vietnam on July 24 paid an official visit to the Czech Republic at the invitation of his counterpart Lubomír Zaoralek.

During the visit, he paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Belobradek, held talks Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaoralek and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the two foreign ministries.

He also worked with Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek, visited the Vietnam Embassy and met with Vietnamese community representatives in the Czech Republic.

At the meetings with the Vietnamese diplomat, Czech Republic leaders applauded Vietnam’s monumental renovation achievements and expressed their conviction that Vietnam will be an important factor in maintaining peace, stability and development in the region.

The Czech Republic always regards Vietnam as its important partner in Southeast Asia, they noted.

The two sides agreed upon a score of measures to forge bilateral relations across a variety of fields especially in politics, economy, trade, education, security and defense.

To promote two-way trade and improve the efficiency of investment cooperation, they stressed the need to enhance the performance of the Intergovernmental Committee on Vietnam-Czech Republic Economic Cooperation and offer favourable conditions for businesses to strengthen connectivity and intensify market research.

They consented to encourage businesses to invest in areas of the Czech Republic’s particular strength and Vietnam’s great demand such as energy, telecommunications, public transport, agricultural machinery manufacturing, electrical equipment and construction materials and crystal glass, beer production.

Vietnam asked the Czech Republic to boost imports of Vietnamese goods such as rice, rubber, coffee and seafood.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the close and effective coordination between the two countries at international forums and agreed to further strengthen cooperation in this field. The Czech Republic will continue to support Vietnam’s bid to run for a seat at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for 2016-2018 term and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 term, and the early conclusion of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) negotiations.

The Czech Republic will announce its early ratification of the Vietnam-EU   Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) that Vietnam has signed with the European Union (EU).

Regarding the East Sea issue, FM Lubomír Zaoralek stated that his nation supports the stance of resolving all disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Deputy PM Minh thanked the Czech Government for recognizing the Vietnamese community as the 14th ethnic minority of the Czech Republic and asked the Czech Government to facilitate the lives of the Vietnamese community.

Czech FM Lubomír Zaoralek said he hopes the Vietnamese community will continue to promote their positive role as a bridge for further promotion of friendship and cooperation between the two nations.

The two sides believed that regular exchange visits by senior leaders including the visit by Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh, will help elevate Vietnam-Czech to a higher level in the two peoples’ interests.

On this occasion, Deputy PM Minh invited FM Lubomír Zaoralek to pay an official visit to Vietnam and his invitation was accepted with pleasure. Date for the visit will be arranged through diplomatic channels. 

Host and guest expressed wish that Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang will pay an official visit to the Czech Republic at an appropriate time, noting that the visit will give a boost to multifaceted cooperation between the two nations.

(Source VOV)