A high-ranking delegation of the Czech Government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis on September 4 had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic at the Sapa Commercial Centre in Prague.

A high-ranking delegation of the Czech Government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis visits the Sapa Commercial Centre in Prague. (Photo: VNA)

The event was jointly held by the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic and the Office of the Czech Government. It was also attended by Czech Deputy PM, Minister of Industry and Trade and Minister of Transport Karel Havlíček, and Deputy PM and Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová.

Babis thanked the Vietnamese community for their efforts in fighting COVID-19 in the Czech Republic, and lauded the traditional ties between the two countries.

The PM said during his recent online talks with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Czech Government agreed to cooperate with and support Vietnam in the pandemic combat. Babis also expressed his wish to soon visit Vietnam to promote the bilateral relations, especially in economy and trade.

Babis told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s correspondents that the Sapa Commercial Centre is the biggest one of Vietnamese in Europe, with 7,000 labourers, and described it as a friendship bridge between the two countries.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Thai Xuan Dung thanked the PM for his good sentiments towards the Vietnamese community as well as the Vietnam-Czech relationship.

He highlighted the valuable assistance of the Czech Government and people to Vietnam during the cause of national construction and defence, the close and effective coordination between the two countries on the international arena, and the Czech Government’s support to the Vietnamese community.

Despite COVID-19, two-way trade has grown sharply over the past time, reaching 1.5 billion USD last year, up 22 percent against 2019. In the first half of this year, the revenue increased 28 percent year-on-year, according to the ambassador.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government and people, Dung thanked the Czech Republic for presenting Vietnam with 250,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and its readiness to transfer 500,000 doses to the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam wants to receive more assistance from the international community and the Czech Republic in particular in the pandemic fight, he said.

Vietnam also hopes for the transfer of COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and medical supplies as soon as and as many as possible, Dung said, adding that the country wishes to access vaccine sources from European Union (EU) member nations and cooperate with the EU in the transfer of COVID-19 vaccine and treatment drug production technologies.

President of the Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic Nguyen Duy Nhien affirmed that the Vietnamese community will integrate more intensively and extensively into the host society in the time ahead./.

Q.Hoa t.h / VNA