Prime Minister Petr Fiala welcomed the Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh in Prague

Prime Minister Fiala: The conclusion of a strategic partnership with Vietnam will strengthen trade, investment, and cooperation in several areas

Watch the video from  Monday, January 20, 2025, when Prime Minister Petr Fiala welcomed the Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh, in Prague. Together, they agreed to upgrade Czech-Vietnamese relations to a strategic partnership, which aims to strengthen trade, investment, and defense cooperation and support joint projects in the fields of science, education, tourism, and others. Important agreements focused on cooperation in education and pilot training were also signed during the meeting.

This year, the Czech Republic and Vietnam are commemorating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. “We don’t have such close relations with any other Asian country as we do with Vietnam. Our relations are developing successfully and the intensity of contacts at various levels is growing. This corresponds to the turnover of mutual trade, which was a record last year and exceeded 4 billion dollars. It is gratifying that Czech companies are very interested in further investments in Vietnam. For all these reasons, we are moving our relations to a new, strategic level,” said the Prime Minister.

The joint statement on upgrading mutual relations to a strategic partnership refers in particular to strengthening cooperation in defense and security, economic partnership, trade and investment relations, education, science and technology, environment, natural resources and health care, tourism, culture and other areas.

The heads of government followed up on their last meeting in Hanoi two years ago. Since then, several joint projects have been moved forward. “For example, the year before last I started the construction of the Škoda Auto plant in Quang Ninh province. This March, the automaker plans to start the production line. It is one of those projects that raise Czech-Vietnamese economic cooperation to a new higher level. We are also delivering L-39 aircraft, we have the option of delivering other machines,” added Prime Minister Fiala.

Both countries concluded an agreement on cooperation in the field of education, which, among other things, supports direct cooperation of higher education institutions and enables mutual exchanges of academic staff and university students. A contract was also concluded for the training of Vietjet airline pilots at the F-Air flight school.

The great interest of companies in the development of business relations is also shown by the participation in today’s business forum in Prague, which was attended by representatives of 130 companies from both countries. Vietnam is the most important trade partner of the Czech Republic in Southeast Asia. The potential for mutual cooperation is enormous. Czech and Vietnamese companies already cooperate in the automotive, energy, and defense industries, and there is also close cooperation in the mining industry and the aviation sector. “We see great potential in the petrochemical industry, e.g. while expanding the capacities of Vietnamese refineries. Our companies have extensive experience with this on a global scale. We can also offer experience and technology in the field of nuclear energy. The next step we talked about could be the introduction of a direct flight between Prague and Hanoi, which would have a positive impact on trade, investment and tourism. As it has already been done with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan,” said the prime minister.

The joint meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Vlastimil Válek, Minister of Finance Zbyněk Stanjura, Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Mikuláš Bek and their Vietnamese counterparts.

Read the joint declaration on elevating bilateral relations to a strategic partnership, deepening political cooperation and diplomatic relations between The Social Republic of Vietnam and the Czech Republic.