Prime Minister met with Prime Minister of Vietnam and talked about the development of mutual relations and direct airline links

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš met with Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on Wednesday, 17 April 2019. They talked about mutual bilateral relations, economic cooperation of both countries and the possibilities of cooperation in defence industry. Subsequently, both statesmen gave a speech at the Czech-Vietnamese Business Forum and had lunch at the Liechtenstein Palace.

The main topics of the Czech and Vietnamese Prime Ministers were mutual economic cooperation. The statesmen talked about trade exchange, the growing interest of Czech investors in Vietnam or specific projects of Czech companies, especially in the mining industry. They also talked about the Czech support for the approval of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Vietnam. Vietnam is currently the third most important trading partner of the Czech Republic within ASEAN countries.

“Me and the Prime Minister agreed that we will continue to deepen economic cooperation, which is an important aspect of our relations. Vietnam is our third largest ASEAN trading partner. The turnover reached 1.17 billion”, said Andrej Babiš after the meeting.

The Czech Prime Minister further emphasized the long tradition of friendly relations and successful cooperation between the two countries and emphasized the interest of the Czech Republic in its further development and deepening. Andrej Babiš also said that the Czech Republic intends to support Vietnam’s candidacy as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020–2021. According to the Prime Minister, the development of tourism, trade and other areas of cooperation would benefit from the introduction of a direct flight between Prague and Hanoi.

“I am very pleased that the Prime Minister’s delegation has representatives of Bamboo Airways and I assured the Prime Minister that it would be great if the company started a direct flight between Vietnam and Prague”, said the Prime Minister at a press conference after the meetings of the delegations.

Defense industry cooperation is also an important pillar of bilateral relations. Vietnam is one of the leading Czech partners in the South East Asia region and the Czech Republic is keen to continue its projects aimed at modernizing the Vietnamese army. The Prime Ministers also discussed the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic, which is an important link between the two countries, or the possibility of lifting the visa requirement for Czech tourists. The meeting was followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on technical standardization and metrology and a Memorandum of Understanding on geology and mineral resources.

After the meeting at the Straka Academy, the Prime Ministers launched the Czech-Vietnamese Business Forum at the Hilton Hotel. Andrej Babiš appreciated the skills of Vietnamese citizens coming to the Czech Republic, who are becoming part of the small business sector, come to study at universities, and are successful on the labour market and in business in highly qualified fields.

“Vietnam is experiencing remarkable economic development. Over the past five years, the Vietnamese economy has grown at an average rate of 6% of GDP, with growth even exceeding 7% of GDP last year. More importantly, this is facilitated by the inflow of foreign direct investment, which was USD 19 billion in 2018. The success of the Vietnamese economy is also reflected in the recent improvement in Vietnam’s long-term credit rating from three major rating agencies. While it is true that our export to Vietnam in 2018/2017 grew by 32 percent, our trade balance is negative – almost USD 900 million, so we certainly have a huge potential there, and I have been very supportive of our companies, particularly in the mining industry, at our bilateral meeting”, said the Prime Minister at the opening of the Business Forum.

After the opening of the business forum, the two delegations moved to the Liechtenstein Palace, where they finished the joint program with a lunch.