Vietnam, Czech agree to bolster friendly, cooperative ties

Presidents of Vietnam and the Czech Republic agreed Friday to broaden and deepen their friendly and all-round cooperative relations, especially in the fields of trade and economy.

During the talks between Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his visiting Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus, they agreed that the two countries will continue to strengthen exchange and cooperation on trade, investment, industry, energy, education and training, agriculture and rural development, and environment. They will also establish more direct relations among their enterprises and localities.

Triet said Vietnam always treasures the reinforcement and development of friendly and multi-faceted cooperative ties with traditional partners, including the Czech Republic, during the process of globalization and international and regional integration.

Klaus said he highly appreciated socioeconomic achievements gained by Vietnam during its renovation process.

After the talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing ceremony of five deals between state agencies and businesses of the two countries, including a memorandum of understanding inked by Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment and Czech's Foreign Affairs Ministry on implementation of a development cooperation program, and several documents on investing or financially assisting investment in production of electricity, cement, building materials, foodstuffs and drinks in Vietnam, and construction of a trade center and apartment blocks in Czech.

Klaus met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nong Duc Manh, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong. The two sides touched upon bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concerns.

Klaus started his official five-day visit to Vietnam on Friday.

Vietnam and the Czech Republic established a joint government committee on economic and trade cooperation in 1998. They signed an economic cooperation agreement in 2005.

Source: Xinhua