Farewell ceremony for PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc at Vaclav Havel international airport, Prague

During his stay in Romania from April 14-16 and in the Czech Republic from April 16-18, PM Phuc had a busy working agenda with nearly 30 activities.

In Romania, Phuc held talks with host PM Viorica Dancila, and met President Klaus Iohannis, President of the Senate Călin Popescu Tăriceanu and President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea. He attended and delivered a speech at the Vietnam-Romania Business Forum, and talked with representatives of Romanian localities cooperating with Vietnam.

At the talks, the two PMs agreed to step up delegation exchanges, and continue implementing existing cooperation mechanisms effectively, especially the joint committee on economic cooperation. PM Viorica Dancila affirmed that Romania, with its role as the Chair of the European Union in the first six months of 2019, will do its utmost to boost the early signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

In the Czech Republic, PM Phuc held talks with his host counterpart Andrej Babis, during which they agreed to foster bilateral collaboration in numerous fields, especially education-training, agriculture, science-technology, environment, culture and tourism, and support the early opening of a direct air route linking Hanoi and Prague.

The Vietnamese Government leader met representatives of the Vietnamese community living in Romania and the Czech Republic.

On this occasion, a number of cooperation agreements between Vietnam and the two countries and between their enterprises were signed.

The success of the official visits not only contributes to consolidating and tightening Vietnam’s traditional friendship with the Central European nations, but also helps speed up the signing and ratification of the EVFTA and the EVIPA in order to open up new cooperative opportunities for Vietnam and the EU in general, and Romania and the Czech Republic in particular.

Vietnam looks to broader cooperation with Romania, Czech

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Czech counterpart Andrej Babis at a press conference flowing their talks

The visits to Romania and the Czech Republic by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc reaffirmed Vietnam’s wish to step up the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with traditional friends in Central and Eastern Europe, with Romania and the Czech Republic as prioritized partners.

Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung made the statement in an interview granted to the press on the main outcomes of these official visits that ended on April 18.

He said through the visits, Vietnam reached common perceptions and important agreements with Romania and the Czech Republic to ratchet up bilateral ties in diverse fields.

Leaders of Romania and the Czech Republic asserted that Vietnam plays an important role in their policies and is their crucial partner in Southeast Asia. They, however, said cooperation with Vietnam remains modest, failing to keep up with the sound political ties, and expressed their wish to broaden the ties.

Vietnam and the two countries agreed to coordinate in joint activities to mark the 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2020, Dung said.

On economic cooperation, the sides agreed to soon convene the meeting of the Vietnam-Romania Inter-governmental Committee in 2019 and that of the Vietnam-Czech Republic Inter-governmental Committee in 2020 so specific projects in agriculture, food processing and oil production could be launched with Romania, and those in mechanical engineering, specialized machinery, footwear, garment and textile, and construction materials could be carried out with the Czech Republic.

According to Dung, PM Phuc reached agreements on labour cooperation with the Romanian leaders and on aviation with the Czech leaders. Vietnam’s newest airlines, Bamboo Airways, signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Prague airport, paving the way for the opening of a Hanoi-Prague direct air route in 2019.

The Czech Republic, and especially Romania as the rotating EU president, affirmed their strong support for the early signing of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) in one or two months, he said.

The two countries’ leaders said the early signing of the two agreements offers a big opportunity for the EU in general and businesses in Central and Eastern Europe in particular to boost the exchange of trade and investments in Vietnam, contributing to bringing their cooperation with Vietnam to a new height.

During the visits, PM Phuc asked the Romanian and Czech leaders to continue assisting the Vietnamese community in integrating in their countries’ social life and contributing to the bilateral cooperation and friendship.

Discussed arising regional and global issues, the Romanian and Czech leaders showed their support for the settlement of disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.

Regarding bilateral cooperation potential, Dung referred to education and training, labour, tourism, and local partnership as promising fields for Vietnam’s partnership with Romania and the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic hosts the Vietnamese community of 65,000 people, which has been recognized as the only ethnic group in Europe, while Romania hosts 500 overseas Vietnamese and nearly 3,000 Vietnamese guest workers.

VNA