The focus of the collaboration will be agriculture and the food industry, the official told visiting Czech Minister of Agriculture Marek Vyborny in a reception in the city, noting HCM City, as an economic and cultural centre of Vietnam, is aware of its pioneer role in materialising cooperation projects between Vietnam and other countries, including the Czech Republic.
Highly valuing the Czech Republic’s strengths in agriculture, and food and agricultural processing, Mai held that its traditional products like milk, meat and materials for the food industry would easily enter the HCM City market, and from there accessing Vietnam’s southern region.
Mai also suggested HCM City and the Czech Republic enhance cooperation in tourism and catering and lodging services, contributing to raising trade revenue between the two countries and the efficiency of their economic collaboration.
Sharing Mai’s views, Vyborny said the Czech Republic and Vietnam, including its HCM City, should take more measures to boost the two-way trade, which was valued at over 2.5 billion USD last year.
The minister spoke highly of HCM City’s economic potential, and noted his belief that Vietnam’s biggest economic hub will be a destination for Czech businesses.
The Czech Republic welcomes Vietnamese businesses, including those from HCM City, to visit the country and scope out cooperation opportunities in agriculture and food processing, he said, adding that the country stands ready to work together with Vietnam to carry out exchanges and meetings for their enterprises.