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Czech Republic trade fails to meet potential
Two-way trade between Viet Nam and the Czech Republic has failed to match potential and demand, Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice Chairman Doan Duy Khuong told a business conference yesterday.
"With a flexible economic mechanism, Viet Nam will act as a bridge for Czech businesses to enter the ASEAN market while the Czech Republic helps Vietnamese firms penetrate the EU," Khuong said.
Yesterday's event witnessed the participation of over 20 Czech enterprises specialising in oil and gas, hydroelectricity, civil engineering, IT, import-export, finance and banking.
Such a number proved the increasing interest of Czech companies in Viet Nam, Khuong noted.
There were still many untapped co-operation opportunities awaiting Vietnamese and Czech enterprises, said Tomas Dub, deputy foreign minister of the Czech Republic.
He outlined energy, mining, infrastructure development, automobiles, machinery and engineering, insurance, finance, environmental protection and healthcare as promising sectors for bilateral co-operation.
Yesterday also witnessed the inking of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between southern Can Tho City's Department of Science and Technology and the Electrotechnical Certification Authority of the Czech Republic.
Accordingly, the Czech partner would help improve local capacities in quality verification and measurement to better meet EU standards, said Department Director Tran Ngoc Nguyen.
Assistance in personnel training would also be included, he added.
Viet Nam remained one of the 12 markets prioritised by the Czech Republic, according to a newly released Czech preferential trade policy for 2011-2015.
As of last year, the Czech Republic had 25 projects in Viet Nam with combined investment capital of US$57 million, ranking 49th among 94 countries investing in the country.
Last year, two-way trade hit $220 million, of which $183 million came from Vietnamese exports including garments, footwear, components and seafood.
In order to facilitate co-operation between businesses, the chamber would co-ordinate with Vietnamese embassies in the Czech and Slovak republics to organise a trip for domestic enterprises to exploit the two markets from June 25 to July 4.
The trip would be a good chance for local firms to update advanced technologies, especially in machinery and engineering, electricity, biology and environmental protection, while seeking additional co-operation opportunities, the chamber said.
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