HANOI, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico on Monday agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic partnership as part of the latter's official visit to the Southeast Asian country, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
At a press briefing following their talks, Hung said he and his Slovak guest adopted a joint statement on the upgrade and tasked their foreign ministries with swiftly developing an action plan to implement the new partnership, according to the report.
The two sides agreed to deepen the partnership across areas, including trade, investment, defense and security, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and people-to-people exchange, Hung said.
Fico affirmed that the bilateral political ties are strong and mutually beneficial, noting Vietnam is Slovakia's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, while calling for stronger economic and trade collaboration, the report added. ■