Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính speaks at the Việt Nam - Czech Republic Business Forum held in Hà Nội on Friday. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's Government always creates favourable conditions for Việt Nam and Czech businesses to strengthen cooperation in trade and investment.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính made the statement at the Việt Nam - Czech Business Forum organised by the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Việt Nam and the Czech Chamber of Commerce (CCC) held in Hà Nội on Friday.

This forum aimed at introducing the potential and new opportunities in trade and investment to the business communities of the two countries, contributing to the promotion of economic and trade relations between Việt Nam and the Czech Republic.

The forum attracted the participation of more than 300 Vietnamese and Czech enterprises operating in many fields, such as energy, industry, construction, finance - banking, forwarding - transportation, environment, high technology in anti-counterfeiting and voice recognition, military, aviation, pilot training and trade.

At the forum, businesses of both sides signed cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding with each other.

They included the Memorandum of Understanding between Armex Group and Petrovietnam Power Corporation on the promotion of cooperation, and the collaboration agreement between Czech FAIR and Vietjet Air on training commercial pilots.

Besides that, many other businesses on both sides actively met and exchanged to seek investment opportunities and new customers.

Also at the forum, Prime Minister Chính emphasised Việt Nam's efforts in building an autonomous economy and the achievements although the world economy, including Việt Nam, has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the complexities of geopolitics.

In 2022, the bilateral trade turnover increased by 15 per cent on year to US$848 million. The Czech Republic now is one of important trading partners of Việt Nam in Central and Eastern Europe. In the term of investment, the Czech Republic has 41 projects in Việt Nam with a total registered investment capital of about $92 million, Chính said.

"Việt Nam will strengthen the development of infrastructure, administrative reform, development of human resources, completing of institutions, industrialisation on the basis of science and technology, development of the digital economy," PM Chính said. "It will also develop supply chains, and reduce logistics and input costs.”

“Việt Nam and the Czech Republic will improve efficiency in trade and investment cooperation and create favourable conditions for boosting the exchange of goods between the two countries. Việt Nam has proposed the Czech Republic to open its market further for Vietnamese agricultural products and electronics,” PM Chính said.

In addition, this forum was a chance for the businesses of the two countries to strengthen cooperation and share solutions to take advantage of the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement and the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement, he said.

In his speech at the forum, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala emphasised that Việt Nam is an important partner in Southeast Asia with a good traditional relationship over the past 70 years.

This relationship has been strengthened further with the contributions of the Vietnamese community living and working in the Czech Republic and Czech investors doing business and investment successfully in Việt Nam, he said.

The two countries have implemented effective cooperation in many fields such as mining, medical equipment, finance, defense, science, research and innovation.

The Czech PM also expressed his belief that the governments of the two countries will continue to support and create favourable conditions for Czech and Vietnamese citizens in business activities and visits to each other.

To facilitate the relations between the two countries, PM Fiala suggested that the two sides consider reducing restrictions on trade.

At the forum, VCCI chairman Phạm Tấn Công and CCC president Vladimír Dlouhý said that as national trade promotion agencies, the two chambers are always proactive and positive in supporting the businesses of the two countries.

The two chambers will continue to work closely together to strengthen cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries' businesses.

Trade turnover between the Czech Republic and Việt Nam reached nearly $850 million in 2022, mainly from exports of Việt Nam to the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, Czech export value to Việt Nam reached a modest number of $168 million, Dlouhý said. This forum was expected to contribute to increasing this number in the future.

"Czech businesses are willing to share information to strengthen trade and investment cooperation in the fields of green industry, wastewater treatment, renewable energy, environmental protection technology, and tourism," he said.

"In particular, it is necessary to have direct flights between Việt Nam and the Czech Republic to facilitate travel for businesses and people of the two countries." VNS