The Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic and the Czech Chamber of Commerce jointly held a business forum in Prague on June 15 to bolster links between businesses and seek ways to strengthen traditional friendship and multi-faced cooperation of the two countries.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Thai Xuan Dung praised the sound relationship of the two countries amid complicated developments in the world and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, two-way trade reached 2.4 billion USD.
Chairman of the Czech Chamber of Commerce Zdenek Zajicek highlighted that the forum is an opportunity for enterprises of both sides to share experience and boost collaboration.
He expressed his hope that the chamber will be a realiable partner to help enterprises of the two countries solve difficulties and barriers in commerce activities by directly pointing out bottlenecks to governments of both sides as well as in the framework of the European Parliament (EP).
For his part, Deputy Minister of Inudstry and Trade Edvard Kozusnik affirmed Vietnam is the most important partner of the European country in Asia. With an average economic growth of 6-7% in the past two decades and a large market scale, Vietnam is a potential partner of the Czech Republic.
Jan Zahradil, a member of the EP, spoke highly of Vietnam's strong development, saying that the country has a significant role in Southeast Asia region and the Czech Republic hopes Vietnam can act as a bridge so that it can penetrate more in economic activities in ASEAN region.
In addition, he also mentioned the positive effects of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) which helps strengthen trade relations between Vietnam and the EU in general, and with EU member states in particular.
The trade accord can be a model for further agreements between the EU and other countries, he added.
Participants at the forum exchanged ideas and information about the two countries' markets with focus on potential cooperation areas as well as seeking measures to remove difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of cooperation and connection between enterprises of the two countries./.
