Slovak president to visit Vietnam to strengthen bilateral ties

Slovak president Ivan Gasparovic will make an official visit to Vietnam on Oct. 16-18 to foster all- round cooperative relations between the two countries, a local spokesman announced Thursday.

"The visit aims at reinforcing and developing multifaceted cooperative relations between Vietnam and Slovakia, especially in the fields of economy, trade and investment," Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a regular press briefing.

The Slovak president is scheduled to hold talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet, and meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong.

Vietnam and Slovakia have already had cooperation in such fields as engineering, shipbuilding, chemical, infrastructure construction, garment, leather footwear and foodstuff processing. Their trade has annually stood at, on average, over 20 million U.S. dollars in recent years, according to the Vietnamese Trade Ministry.

Source: Xinhua