Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and his spouse bid farewell to Polish officials at the airport before departing for the Czech Republic. — VNA/VNS Photo

WARSAW — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính left Warsaw at noon on January 18 for Prague to begin an official visit to the Czech Republic at the invitation of his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala.

Earlier the same day, PM Chính visited the ASG Trade Centre in Warsaw, as part of his official visit to Poland. The centre is considered one of the largest Vietnamese trade hubs in Europe alongside Sa Pa in the Czech Republic and Đồng Xuân in Germany.

According to Hoàng Xuân Bình, Chairman of the ASG Board of Directors, the ASG is the first trade centre of the Vietnamese community and one of the largest centres managed by a Vietnamese-led board in Poland. It spans 120,000 square metres and features over 400 stores specialising in imports, exports, and wholesale.

Conveniently located on a key route connecting Warsaw and Krakow, it generates tens of millions of US dollars in annual taxes and provides thousands of jobs, primarily to the Vietnamese community. Businesses at the centre are now focusing on digital transformation and e-commerce expansion.

Prime Minister Chính expressed his delight at the outcomes of the centre's activities as well as the success and development of the Vietnamese people in Poland, while praising the Vietnamese community's contributions, patriotism solidarity, especially in difficulties like the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent fire at a Warsaw trade centre. He emphasised the importance of leveraging trade hubs like the ASG to strengthen economic ties between Việt Nam and Poland.

Poland is currently Việt Nam’s largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe, while Việt Nam is Poland's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia. However the economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries had yet to match with the good politic-diplomatic relations, Chính said.

He expressed his hope that the Vietnamese community in general and those doing business at the ASG in particular would continue to work and do business in accordance with the law for rapid, sustainable and effective development, contributing to connecting the two economies through supply chains, exploiting Việt Nam's strengths such as agricultural products, garments, electronics and footwear, and promoting the introduction of officially imported Vietnamese products in the Polish and European markets. These efforts would contribute to creating a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation, striving to soon achieve a bilateral trade turnover of US$5 billion a year.

The PM briefed the community on results of his talks and meeting with Polish leaders. He said Poland would soon ratify the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement. He proposed Poland recognise the Vietnamese community as an ethnic minority in the country.

He encouraged Vietnamese businesses to adopt sustainable practices, prioritise legal compliance, and foster innovation. He called for enhanced logistics and e-commerce capabilities while suggesting Vietnam Airlines collaborate with Poland's LOT Airlines to optimise transport costs.

This trip to the ASG marked the conclusion of Prime Minister Chính’s official visit to Poland. — VNS