Prague (VNA) ﷺ– The Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic and the Czech Chamber of Commerce jointly held a business forum in Prague on June 15 to bolster links between businesses and seek ways to strengthen traditional friendship and multi-facedcooperation of the two countries.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Thai Xuan Dungpraised the sound relationship of the two countries amid complicateddevelopments in the world and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, two-way trade reached 2.4 billion USD. Chairman of the Czech Chamber of Commerce ZdenekZajicek highlighted that the forum is an opportunity for enterprises of bothsides to share experience andboost collaboration. He expressed his hopethat the chamber will be a realiable partner to help enterprises of the twocountries solve difficulties and barriers in commerce activities by directly pointing out bottlenecks to governments of both sides as well as in the framework of the European Parliament (EP). For his part, Deputy Ministerof Industry and Trade Edvard Kozusnik affirmed Vietnam is the most important partner of theEuropean country in Asia. With an average economic growth of 6-7% in the pasttwo decades and a large market scale, Vietnam is a potential partner of theCzech Republic. Jan Zahradil, a member of the EP, spoke highly of Vietnam's strong development, saying that the country has a significant role inSoutheast Asia region and theCzech Republic hopes Vietnam can act as a bridge so that it can penetrate morein economic activities in ASEAN region. In addition, he also mentioned the positive effects ofthe EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) which helps strengthen traderelations between Vietnam and the EU in general, and with EU member states inparticular. The trade accord canbe a model for further agreements between the EU and other countries, he added. Participants at the forum exchanged ideas and information aboutthe two countries' markets with focus on potential cooperation areas as well asseeking measures to remove difficulties and obstacles in the implementation ofcooperation and connection between enterprises of the two countries./.