Prague(VNA) – Chairwoman of Vietnam’s National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and PrimeMinister of the Czech Republic Bohuslav Sobotka agreed that the two countriesshould enhance cooperation during their meeting in Prague on April 12.

Ngan is visiting theCzech Republic on April 12-14 as part of her European tour, which began on April6.

Speaking at themeeting, the top Vietnamese legislator said despite progress in cooperationbetween Vietnam and the Czech Republic in trade and investment, the two nationsshould work to unleash their potential.

Two-way trade reached249 million USD last year and the Czech Republic ranked 45th out of116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 34 investment projects, worth approximately 90 million USD, she noted, proposingthe two countries increase visits to each other for market research and improvethe work of the Vietnam-Czech Intergovernmental Committee for economy andscience-technology cooperation.

Ngan suggested herhost stimulate Czech investment in Vietnam’s fields of interest, includingrenewable energy, metallurgy, mining, infrastructure development, supportingindustries, environment, textile & garment and mechanical and electronicmanufacturing.

The Czech PM said that Czech exports to Vietnam only made up about 10 percent of bilateraltrade and it is time to boost partnerships in trade, commerce and investment.

Aside from strengthsin foreign direct investment, the Czech Republic has advantages in supplyingadvanced technologies in mining and energy, Sobotka said, adding that theEuropean country wishes to join projects in infrastructure development,healthcare, pharmaceuticals and information technology in Vietnam.

On education, ChairwomanNgan hoped the Czech Republic will push cooperation agreements andcollaborative training projects in fields of its strength, like engineering,agriculture, medicine and pharmacy, electrics and electronics.

She also asked forcontinued support from the Czech government in strengthening the comprehensivepartnership between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) and hoped it would pushthe ratification of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement and the EU’s recognitionof Vietnam as a market economy.

In security-defence,Ngan expected the Czech Republic would assist Vietnam in trainingcyber-security specialists. She also affirmed the National Assembly of Vietnam’ssupport for the two governments to ink deals on combating crime and on thetransfer of convicts.

Echoing hisVietnamese guest, PM Sobotka said Czech enterprises look forward toopportunities in security-defence.

They also agreed tofast-track the launch of streamlined visa processing between the two countries.Sobotka said he expects the number of Czech tourist arrivals to Vietnam to growconsiderably once Vietnam simplifies the application process for short-stayvisas.-VNA