(VOVWORLD) - – A Czech Republic-Vietnam trade forum was held in Brno City, the capital of the South Moravian Region on Friday aiming to provide local enterprises with information on Vietnam’s business environment.
The event also aimed to explore opportunities for enhancing trade, investment and economic ties between the two countries as the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has entered into force.
In her opening remarks, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alena Schillerova said this is the first trade forum organised by the Czech Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Czech Confederation of Industry and the Association of Young Vietnamese Entrepreneurs to foster the two countries’ long-standing relations in trade and economics.
According to the Deputy PM, Vietnam is Czechia’s second largest trade partner in Southeast Asia and the 13th globally. Vietnam exports to the Czech Republic consumer and industrial goods while many Czech companies, including those specialised in medical equipment, have succeeded in Vietnam, she said.
The EVFTA will bring even more opportunities for their trade and economic ties to thrive further in the coming time, she continued, adding that it is expected to lift the two-way trade by at least 50 percent.
Czechia wants to ramp up cooperation with Vietnam in the fields of energy, environment, healthcare, and defence industry, she said.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Thai Xuan Dung said despite adverse impacts of COVID-19, the bilateral trade grew by over 22 percent to 1.5 billion USD in 2020. It totalled 936 million USD in the first half of this year, up 28 percent year on year.
The Vietnam-Czechia economic and trade relations hold huge potentials to grow to a new height after the trade pact took effect, he said, noting that Vietnam highly appreciates the Czech Republic's backing of the process of the EVFTA ratification and the Czech parliament's approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) only shortly after the European Parliament (EP) ratified the EVFTA.
Discussion at the forum focused on Vietnam’s business climate, opportunities to boost two-way trade, and the Southeast Asian country’s orientation in agricultural and food exports.