VIETNAM: Czech president Vaclav Klaus makes first visit by Czech head of state to Vietnam

Czech President Vaclav Klaus began a five-day official visit to Vietnam on Friday (September 29). The trip is part of a 12-day visit to Asia by Klaus and his wife Livia. He has already travelled to Mongolia, and will conclude his tour in Singapore. This is the first time a Czech head of state has made a visit to Vietnam, since the break up of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. After a welcoming ceremony, Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Klaus held talks, discussing ways to boost trade and economic ties and traditional friendship between the two countries. During his visit, Klaus will also meet with Communist party chief, Nong Duc Manh. But his planned programme has had to be adjusted due to the tropical storm Xangsane which is heading to Central Vietnam. Klaus Will be visiting Ho Chi Mind on Saturday (September 30) rather then visit Danang, as he had intended. On Friday, Klaus also attended the Vietnam-Czech Republic Business Forum, and met with Vietnamese who studied and worked in former Czechoslovakia. Vietnam and the Czech Republic established a joint government committee on economic and trade in 1998. The two countries signed an economic co-operation agreement in September 2005. In this visit, Klaus witnessed the signing of a series of agreements aim at boosting economic ties in the new period. Currently, about 40,000 Vietnamese people are working and living in the Czech Republic.

ITN Source | October 2, 2006

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