Slovak News Back to the news
Parliamentary Chairman Paska Meets His Vietnamese Counterpart
Wednesday 27 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Hanoi, January 27 (TASR-CORRESPONDENT) - Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paska (Smer-SD) met his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi on Wednesday after laying wreaths at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
Two parliamentary chairmen discussed possibilities of a closer co-operation of both legislative chambers. "Issues concerning international political relations represented the second area we discussed," said Paska after the session. He stressed that mutual co-operation of Slovakia and Vietnam within international organisations is on a very good level and it's necessary to develop it further.
The third area discussed concerned bilateral economic co-operation. "We've concluded that, unfortunately, despite our long-term friendly relations, the amount of our trade exchange – as well as mutual business contacts – still isn't at the desired level," Paska said.
Vietnamese officials expressed their hope that Slovakia will promote Vietnamese interests within the European Union and promised that Vietnam is ready to do the same for Slovakia in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), which it currently chairs.
Trong was hence invited to visit Slovakia and the invitation was accepted.
A meeting between Paska and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh is scheduled for the afternoon.
Paska on Tuesday met representatives of the Association of Vietnamese-Slovak Friendship, which is a group of about 300 former students, who studied in Slovakia during the former regime.
Slovakia's Parliamentary Chairman is being accompanied during the visit by Slovak Transport Minister Lubomir Vazny, Health Minister Richard Rasi and a group of Slovak businessmen and representatives of the banking sector.
The mutual amount of trade between Slovakia and Vietnam reached about €71 million last year.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
