General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee Tô Lâm (R) and visiting President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milos Vystrcil in Hà Nội on November 21. — Photo: VNA

HÀ NỘI — General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee Tô Lâm hosted a reception for visiting President of the Senate of the Czech Republic’s Parliament Miloš Vystrčil in Hà Nội on November 21.

Party General Secretary Lâm expressed satisfaction with the positive development in the bilateral relations in recent years, noting that two-way trade, currently standing at US$2 billion, remains modest and has yet to match the two countries’ potential, strengths, and sound political ties.

With a range of well-known, non-competing export items, both sides should step up trade promotion activities to raise bilateral trade to US$5 billion in the years to come. The top leader also emphasised the need for the two nations to make use of each other’s markets as gateways to Europe and Southeast Asia, thereby enhancing strategic autonomy, diversifying markets and supply sources, and deepening participation in global supply and value chains.

Lauding the talks between Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn and Senate President Vystrčil, the Party leader expressed his hope that the two legislatures will continue close coordination to create a legal corridor and favourable conditions for promoting bilateral cooperation, in line with the common interests of both nations.

He recommended the two sides to step up the exchange of delegations at all levels and via Party, State, Government, parliamentary, locality-to-locality, and people-to-people channels; enhance coordination and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums; and foster cooperation in economy, trade, investment, defence-security, science-technology, education-training, culture, and tourism. He also highlighted the importance of expanding cooperation in new areas such as clean energy, renewable energy, and digital transformation.

For his part, Senate President Vystrčil expressed strong agreement with the cooperation orientations set out by the Party General Secretary, affirming that he personally, as well as the Czech Senate, will work closely with the Vietnamese NA and support the Czech Government and relevant agencies in promoting the traditional friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation based on mutual respect. In this spirit, the Czech Senate stands ready to encourage remaining EU member states to soon ratify the EU–Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), he said.

The two leaders noted that Việt Nam and the Czech Republic possess invaluable assets to further advance the bilateral relations. These include the sincere and warm affection shared between the two countries' people; the recognition of the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic as an ethnic minority group; tens of thousands of Vietnamese specialists and engineers trained in the European country; and approximately 300,000 Vietnamese who can understand Czech.

Both sides agreed to accelerate the formulation and implementation of an action plan to realise the substance of the Việt Nam-Czech Republic Strategic Partnership, turning potential and strengths into concrete, practical, and effective cooperation projects that meet the aspirations and interests of both nations.

Senate President Vystrčil highly valued the active role and contributions of the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic, stating that the European country will continue to create favourable conditions for them to live, study, and work stably and for a long term.

He affirmed the support for resolving disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, for peace, stability, and development in both regions and the world. The official also expressed his backing for Việt Nam’s stance on the East Sea issue. — VNS