The visit takes place at a time when the world is undergoing profound and rapid political-security and economic transformations, with far-reaching and pivotal impacts, reflecting a transitional phase from the old world order to a new one. The Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions continue to serve as central engines of global economic growth, while also emerging as focal points of strategic competition among major powers.
    |
 |
|
Visit to elevate Vietnam – Slovakia relations (Photo: VNA) |
Prime Minister Robert Fico’s choice of Vietnam as his first destination in Southeast Asia underscores the importance Slovakia attaches to Vietnam - Slovakia relations, as well as Vietnam’s role and standing in the Asia-Pacific region.
Vietnam and Slovakia share a traditional friendship and strong cooperation, inherited and developed from the Vietnam-Czechoslovakia ties. In terms of political and diplomatic ties, both sides regularly maintain exchanges of delegations at all levels and high-level contacts, while supporting each other at multilateral forums. The ruling Direction–Social Democracy Party (Smer-SD) and other parties in Prime Minister Robert Fico’s ruling coalition place importance on strengthening political cooperation with the Communist Party of Vietnam. Parliamentary cooperation is also maintained through regular exchanges between specialized committees.
Economic, trade, and investment cooperation remains a key pillar of bilateral relations. In recent years, bilateral trade has recorded positive growth, reaching USD 1.78 billion in 2025. As of December 2025, Slovakia had 16 valid direct investment projects in Vietnam, with total registered capital of USD 140.87 million, ranking 47th among 153 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. These include two projects in processing and manufacturing, one in real estate business, and two in construction. Vietnam has one investment project in Slovakia with total capital of USD 447,000, ranking 74th out of 85 countries and territories receiving Vietnamese investment. Slovakia is among the earliest E.U. countries to ratify the E.U. - Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) in February 2023.
Cooperation in education and training, labor, and tourism continues to receive attention and promotion from both sides. Education and training is a traditional area of cooperation between the two countries. Labor cooperation has been implemented based on the Memorandum of Understanding on labor cooperation in 2008, facilitating the deployment of skilled Vietnamese workers to Slovakia. In tourism, Vietnam included Slovakia in its visa exemption list under the tourism stimulus program launched in August 2025.
Defense and security cooperation has been steadily strengthened and has achieved positive results, based on the Memorandum of Understanding on defense cooperation in 2015. Both sides have also enhanced coordination under the Letter of Intent on strengthening bilateral cooperation in crime prevention and combat in 2025.
Vietnam’s reception of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on this official visit demonstrates its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, and diversification; as well as its pro-active, active, comprehensive, and effective international integration in line with the 14th National Party Congress and Politburo Resolution No.59-NQ/TW dated January 24, 2025, on international integration in the new context.
The visit also reaffirms Vietnam’s consistent policy of valuing and seeking to strengthen relations with traditional friends, including Slovakia. It reflects the shared determination to deepen and enhance the effectiveness of bilateral ties, promote cooperation in political-diplomatic, economic-trade-investment, defense, and security fields, and expand collaboration in other areas with great potential such as science and technology, information technology, environmental agriculture, culture, education, labor, tourism, local-level cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges, aligned with the elevation of bilateral relations in the new context.
We firmly believe that the visit by Prime Minister Robert Fico will be a great success, ushering Vietnam - Slovakia relations into a new phase of dynamic development, bringing tangible benefits to the peoples of both countries.
By the Editorial Board of the People’s Army Newspaper
Translated by Tran Hoai