Nguyễn Trọng Nghĩa, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of the committee’s Commission for Information and Education (right), delivers a souvenir to President of ANO Party Andrej Babis. – VNA/VNS Photo

PRAGUE – A delegation from the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) led by Nguyễn Trọng Nghĩa, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of the committee’s Commission for Information and Education, paid a working visit to the Czech Republic from April 22-24.

During the visit, the delegation met with Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech parliament and Vice President of the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Jan Skopecek, President of ANO Party Andrej Babis, and First Vice President of the Czech Communist Party Petr Simunek.

At the meetings, Nghĩa underlined that the trip, which coincided with the Việt Nam visit by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, aimed to strengthen further the traditional friendship and all-round cooperation between Việt Nam and the Czech Republic, while fostering the ties between the CPV and political parties of the Czech Republic and promoting people-to-people exchange.

It was also to express gratitude to the Government and people of Czechoslovakia in the past and the Czech Republic at present for giving Việt Nam support and solidarity in the past struggle for independence and national reunification and the current national construction and defence, as well as the Czech Government’s recognition of the Vietnamese community as an ethnic minority group of the country.

Briefing the Czech side on Việt Nam's socio-economic situation and national development strategy, Nghĩa proposed that Việt Nam and the Czech Republic continue to reinforce existing cooperation mechanisms in culture, education and training and promote the role of the Vietnamese community in strengthening the ties between the two countries and peoples.

He said the relationship between the CPV and Czech political parties was an important foundation for developing bilateral relations in all fields.

Nghĩa expressed gratitude towards the Czech Republic for being the first EU member to ratify the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement. He also suggested that Czech partners support Việt Nam's orientations, viewpoints, development, and external policies and help spread Việt Nam's external messages to the Czech Government, localities, and people.

This would enable them to gain a deeper understanding of Việt Nam's history, culture, people, reform achievements, and foreign policies and contribute to the development of the Vietnam-Czech Republic relations in an extensive, substantial, and effective manner.

The Czech officials said the Czech Republic highly valued Việt Nam's role and position in the region and the world. They highlighted the long-standing historical relations between the two nations and the Vietnamese community’s contributions to the host country's prosperity.

They spoke highly of the Vietnamese Party and State’s orientations and the country’s achievements in socio-economic development, international integration, culture, education and science-technology. They affirmed that there was plenty of room for the two sides to develop their partnership further.

They shared Việt Nam’s stance on upholding international law and settling disputes through peaceful negotiations to ensure peace and stability for development.

During their stay, the delegation also met with representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy, Vietnamese press agencies, Việt Nam's defence attaché and the Vietnamese community in the country. – VNS