After successfully concluding the official visit to the Republic of Poland, at around 1:00 p.m. on January 18 local time (7:00 p.m. on January 18 Vietnam time), the plane carrying Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation landed at Václav Havel International Airport Prague (capital of Prague), starting an official visit to the Czech Republic at the invitation of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, from January 18 to 20, 2025.
At the airport to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, on the Czech side were Deputy Foreign Minister Jiri Kozak, Czech Ambassador to Vietnam Hynek Kmonicek; on the Vietnamese side were Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Duong Hoai Nam, embassy staff and overseas Vietnamese in the Czech Republic.
The visit is of great significance, taking place on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, opening a new chapter, bringing the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries to a new level, in-depth, substantial and effective.
According to the program, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will hold talks with Prime Minister Petr Fiala, meet with Czech leaders, receive leaders of leading Czech corporations and enterprises, attend the Vietnam-Czech Business Forum; attend the Homeland Spring program and wish overseas Vietnamese a happy new year...
The highlight of this visit is the determination of the two countries' senior leaders to upgrade bilateral relations to a new level. The two sides will focus on exchanging measures to strengthen extensive and comprehensive cooperation in the fields of politics-diplomacy, economics-trade-investment, science-technology, innovation, education-training, culture-sports-tourism, labor, sustainable development and promote people-to-people exchange, contributing to further deepening existing cooperation platforms, exploiting more potential areas of cooperation, opening up new opportunities for cooperation between Vietnam and the Czech Republic.
The two countries established diplomatic relations on February 2, 1950. For Vietnam, since the establishment of diplomatic relations until now, the Czech Republic has always implemented a policy of developing cooperative relations with Vietnam in all fields.
The Czech Republic is a traditional friend and partner, a country that has always stood shoulder to shoulder, giving our people valuable, sincere and wholehearted support and assistance during the arduous years of struggle for independence and national reunification as well as in the country's development over the past decades.
Many projects across the country still mark the support and assistance of the Czech Republic and its people to Vietnam, such as the Vietnam-Czech Republic Friendship Hospital and the Hanoi Children's Cultural Palace.
Over the years, the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the Czech Republic has continued to develop well. With the Czech Republic, political trust has been increasingly strengthened through delegation exchanges at all levels, including high-level ones.
The Czech Republic has actively supported Vietnam in developing comprehensive partnership and cooperation with the European Union (EU), especially in the process of negotiating, signing and ratifying the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The Czech Republic is one of the first EU member states to ratify the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).
Cooperation in areas such as defense-security, education-training, science-technology, culture-sports and tourism, labor... has developed positively. People-to-people exchange has been maintained and enhanced.
In 2025, Vietnam welcomed about 25,000 Czech tourists to visit Vietnam. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic of about 100,000 people has made positive contributions to the locality, to bilateral relations and is highly appreciated by the local government.
In particular, the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic was recognized by the Czech State as the 14th ethnic minority in 2013 (the 3rd largest ethnic minority community in the Czech Republic, accounting for 1% of the population).
Regarding economy and trade: The Czech Republic is Vietnam's leading trade partner in the Central Eastern Europe region; two-way trade turnover in 2023 reached nearly 1.134 billion USD, of which we exported to the Czech Republic 958 million USD, and imported from the Czech Republic more than 176 million USD.
Trade between the two countries has grown in recent years but remains modest compared to its potential. Vietnam exports to the Czech Republic items such as coffee, pepper, fresh and dried fruits, peanuts, tea, rice, rubber, seafood, footwear, textiles, handicrafts, computer components, etc.
Vietnam imports from the Czech Republic: electronics, machinery, chemicals, garments, textiles, leather goods, machinery and equipment, milk and dairy products, pharmaceuticals, mechanical products, plastics, glass products, etc.
Regarding investment, the Czech Republic has 41 FDI projects in Vietnam with a total capital of 92 million USD (ranked 50/147), mainly focusing on the processing, manufacturing and mining industries. The Czech Republic's strong investment cooperation fields are energy, locomotives and railway cars, buses, electric trains, agricultural machinery and irrigation equipment.
Currently, the Czech Republic is implementing a project to establish a joint venture to manufacture automobiles between SKODA Auto Group and Thanh Cong Group in Quang Ninh with a total value of 450 million USD (expected to come into operation in the first quarter of 2025).
In addition, Czech Sev.en Global Investment Group is completing the missing documents to acquire 51% of shares of Mong Duong 2 Coal Power Plant in Quang Ninh.
Vietnam has 4 investment projects in the Czech Republic with a total capital of 1.5 million USD. The Czech Republic is the first Eastern European country to provide ODA to us, with a total of about 20 million USD. In 1994, it provided 14 million USD to support training and employment for Vietnamese workers returning from the Czech Republic; in 1995 and 2008, it provided 2.8 million USD to build and modernize the Orthopedic Center for Disabled Children in Bac Thai (in operation since May 1999); and support to modernize the Viet-Czech Hospital in Hai Phong (1.4 million USD), and the Footwear Technical Training Center in Hai Phong (700 thousand USD).
Source
Comment (0)