Czech President starts State visit to Việt Nam

President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman arrived in Hà Nội yesterday to start his three-day State visit to Việt Nam at the invitation of President Trần Đại Quang. 

President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman arrived in Hà Nội yesterday to start his three-day State visit to Việt Nam at the invitation of President Trần Đại Quang. — Photo AFP

HÀ NỘI – President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman arrived in Hà Nội yesterday to start his three-day State visit to Việt Nam at the invitation of President Trần Đại Quang. 

President Zeman’s delegation includes his spouse Ivana Zemanova, Minister of Justice Robert Pelikan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vaclav Kolaja, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Jiri Koliba, Deputy Minister of Interior Petr Mlsna and several other officials. President Zeman, born in 1944, took office in 2013. He served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998-2002. The visit aims to affirm the Czech Republic’s wish to enhance friendship and cooperation with Việt Nam, as well as the country’s desire to make bilateral ties more extensive and effective. 

The visit is also a chance for the two sides to seek measures to boost bilateral partnership in all fields, especially economy, trade, investment, education-training and labour export and discuss regional and international issues of shared concern.

The visit of Czech President Milos Zeman to Vietnam is one of his most important overseas trips in 2017, as the country is a key partner of the Czech Republic in Southeast Asia, according to Rudolf Jindrak, head of the Czech Presidential Office’s foreign section, who made the remark at an exclusive interview for the Vietnam News Agency.
He said this is the first visit to Vietnam by Milos Zeman since taking office as President of the Czech Republic.
The official noted that the visit aims at boosting bilateral cooperation across sectors, particularly trade and tourism.
In 2016, about 14,000 Czech tourists arrived in Vietnam.
"The Czech Republic is the only country in Europe has recognised Vietnamese among its ethnic minority groups," he stated, adding that the community had contributed significantly to local socio-economic development and to bilateral relations.
Vietnamese is the third biggest ethnic minority group in the Czech Republic. – VNS