Hanoi (VNA) – The visits to Romania and the Czech Republic by PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc reaffirmed Vietnam’s wish to step up the friendshipand multi-faceted cooperation with traditional friends in Central and Eastern Europe,with Romania and the Czech Republic as prioritized partners.

Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung made the statement in an interview granted to the press on themain outcomes of these official visits that ended on April 18.

He said through the visits, Vietnam reached common perceptions and importantagreements with Romania and the Czech Republic to ratchet up bilateral ties indiverse fields.

Leaders of Romania and the Czech Republic asserted that Vietnam plays animportant role in their policies and is their crucial partner in SoutheastAsia. They, however, said cooperation with Vietnam remains modest, failing tokeep up with the sound political ties, and expressed their wish to broaden the ties.

Vietnam and the two countries agreed to coordinate in joint activities to markthe 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2020, Dung said.

On economic cooperation, the sides agreed to soon convene the meeting of theVietnam-Romania Inter-governmental Committee in 2019 and that of theVietnam-Czech Republic Inter-governmental Committee in 2020 so specificprojects in agriculture, food processing and oil production could be launchedwith Romania, and those in mechanical engineering, specialized machinery,footwear, garment and textile, and construction materials could be carried out withthe Czech Republic.

According to Dung, PM Phuc reached agreements on labour cooperation with theRomanian leaders and on aviation with the Czech leaders. Vietnam’s newestairlines, Bamboo Airways, signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperationwith Prague airport, paving the way for the opening of a Hanoi-Prague directair route in 2019.

The Czech Republic, and especially Romania as the rotating EU president, affirmedtheir strong support for the early signing of the European Union-Vietnam FreeTrade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA)in one or two months, he said.

The two countries’ leaders said the early signing of the two agreements offersa big opportunity for the EU in general and businesses in Central and Eastern Europein particular to boost the exchange of trade and investments in Vietnam,contributing to bringing their cooperation with Vietnam to a new height.

During the visits, PM Phuc asked the Romanian and Czech leaders to continueassisting the Vietnamese community in integrating in their countries’ sociallife and contributing to the bilateral cooperation and friendship.

Discussed arising regional and global issues, the Romanian and Czech leadersshowed their support for the settlement of disputes by peaceful means on thebasis of international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.

Regarding bilateral cooperation potential, Dung referred to education andtraining, labour, tourism, and local partnership as promising fields forVietnam’s partnership with Romania and the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic hosts the Vietnamese community of 65,000 people, which hasbeen recognized as the only ethnic group in Europe, while Romania hosts 500overseas Vietnamese and nearly 3,000 Vietnamese guest workers. -VNA