Czech, an important partner of Vietnam

The Vietnam-Czech Business Forum took place on September 27 in Hanoi. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Danh Vinh said at the forum that Czech is an important partner of Vietnam.

The Deputy Minister said that Vietnam reached notable achievements partially thanks to the enthusiastic support of the former Czechoslovakia as well as the current Czech Republic, and that the good relationship between Vietnam the Czech Republic needs to be concretized through promoting bilateral trade, economic cooperation.

Vietnam-Czech relations have been growing on a stable basis. The Vietnamese Trade Office in Czech Republic reported that in the first half of 2010, bilateral trade came to US$165 million, of which Vietnam exported goods worth almost US$126 million and imported goods worth US$39 million.

Major Vietnamese exports to Czech Republic included farm produce, textiles/garments, footwear, coffee and consumer goods, while Czech exports to Vietnam included machinery, medical equipment, milk products, crystal products, medicines and more.

The two countries signed cooperative projects worth billions of US dollars including the US$3 million Tra Vinh thermoelectric plant, the US$95 million Ha Nam power plant, the US$150 million shipbuilding machinery production project, the US$100 million Phu Son cement project and more.

Czech Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Milan Hovorka said that although bilateral trade increased yearly it is still unproportional with the potential and could be further increased. “We have seen many trade and investment opportunities in Vietnam and we want to obtain higher achievements in economic cooperation with Vietnam,” he said. Czech will always support Vietnam regarding relations with the EU including agreements between Vietnam and the EU. Vietnam is not only a major partner in Czech’s development policy but also an important beneficiary of Czech’s official development assistance (ODA), he said.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Danh Vinh said that Vietnamese and Czech economies have their own strengths that are interactive. The Czech Republic is potential in manufacturing, food processing and information technology (IT) industries. Vietnam has good farm produce and a young population that can promote labor-intensive industries. These are good opportunities for goods from one country to penetrate into the other country or vice versa and goods from the two countries to enter EU and ASEAN markets.

“As an inter-governmental committee, we will create favorable conditions for businesses from the two countries to work with each other while lifting difficulties so the two parties can increase mutual understanding and trade and investment relations,” Vinh said.

At the forum, PSJ Company (Czech) and NOSCO Vinalines (Vietnam) signed a contract to construct a ship repair plant in Quang Ninh Province, while PSJ Company and Vinalines Shipyard (Vietnam) signed a memorandum of understanding on a Vinalines ship repair plant project in Phu My, Tan Thanh in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and CREA Hydro&Energy Company (Czech) and Hameco (Vietnam) signed a protocol on an ODA project for small-sized hydroelectric plant technology transfer. – VEN

Tags: Vietnam-Czech Business Forum