Viet Nam considers foreign-invested businesses as an integral part of the country’s economic development and the success of foreign investors in Viet Nam is the country’s success, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The government leader was speaking at a business forum held in the Czech Republic on September 13 that saw the participation of more than 300 Vietnamese and Czech businesses.
PM Dung stressed that Viet Nam and the Czech Republic have a long-standing friendship that has been fostered by the leaders and people of different generations from the two countries. The recent years have witnessed incessant development of the two countries’ economic cooperation, added the PM. Two-way trade turnover between the two countries reached more than 130 million USD in 2006, a two-fold increase over five years ago.
Currently, 11 Czech projects are being implemented in Viet Nam. The PM affirmed that Viet Nam would implement its commitments to create favourable and transparent environment for foreign investors and businesses, including those from the Czech Republic.
 Sharing the same view with his Vietnamese counterpart, Czech PM Mirek Topolanek said the Czech Republic and Viet Nam would further foster the two countries’ traditional friendship.
A member of the European Union (EU), the Czech Republic wants to play a bridge role between the EU and Viet Nam as well as other countries in Southeast Asia, he said. PM Topolanek expressed his admiration for Viet Nam’s high economic growth, saying that Czech businesses should consider it as a platform to boost economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.
At the end of the forum, the two PM witnessed the signing of seven contracts worth 3.5 billion USD between businesses of the two nations. Projects of note include a 3 billion USD thermo-electric plant in Viet Nam, a 200 million USD cement plant and a 150 million USD brewery. (VNA)