Slovakia, Vietnam resume judicial cooperation
23:09 29/09/2014
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico emphasized the importance of resuming judicial cooperation between the two countries after 25 years of hiatus while receiving the Vietnam Justice Ministry delegation led by its Minister Ha Hung Cuong in Bratislava on September 26.
Minister Ha Hung Cuong briefed his host on some results achieved in the process of carrying out judicial reform and revamping the legal system in Vietnam and shared information about legal and judicial reform programs and projects which have been implemented effectively in recent years.
He also expressed his ministry’s desire to expand judicial cooperation through all-level delegation exchange, and learn more about Slovakia's experience in the development and promulgation of the new Constitution, operational mechanisms of legislative, executive and judiciary agencies and regulations of the Constitutional Court and the National Council of Justice.
For his part, the Slovakian PM expressed his pleasure at the healthy development of the Slovakia-Vietnam relations in various realms and greatly appreciated the outcome of working sessions between Vietnamese delegates and their Slovakian counterparts.
“Aside from giving priority to economic, trade and investment cooperation, the two governments should focus on strengthening legal and judicial cooperation.” PM Robert Fico told Minister Ha Hung Cuong.
At their earlier talks, Minister Ha Hung Cuong and his Slovakian counterpart Tommas Borec, agreed to review issues pertaining to the modernization of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), consider signing new MLAT agreements on civil, criminal trade, extradition and transfer of the convicts to replace the cooperation documents signed between the two nations since 1982.
The centre of their discussions were concentrated on issues related to the organization and operations of courts and judicial institutions and the independence of judges in trials.
After the talks, the two ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on legal and judicial cooperation.
During the working visit to Slovakia from September 25-29, the Vietnamese delegation had working sessions with a number of Slovakian judicial agencies during which both sides shared cooperation experiences across a variety of fields -the organization of judicial bodies, personnel training, law making work, participation in multilateral institutions and the implementation of international judicial commitments - (VOV).