Vietnamese Military Officials Visit Slovak State Arms Factories in Second Delegation Trip Within Months

A Vietnamese military delegation visited Slovak state-owned arms manufacturers last week, marking the second such visit in a short period, as ties between Slovakia's ruling Smer party and Vietnam's communist government show signs of translating into concrete defense trade deals. The delegation of Vietnamese military officers toured Slovak state weapons facilities, according to reporting by Slovak daily Denník N. Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák, a senior figure in the Smer-SD party, suggested the visits reflect a deliberate foreign policy approach, saying "our policy is paying off." The deepening military-commercial relationship between Slovakia and Vietnam sits against a complicated diplomatic backdrop. Smer-SD, the ruling left-nationalist party led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, has cultivated close ties with Vietnam's communist leadership through a series of high-level visits. Those ties have previously attracted controversy, most notably due to the 2017 kidnapping of Vietnamese businessman Trinh Xuan Thanh from Berlin, a case in which Slovak diplomatic channels were alleged to have played a role. Fico himself has also faced scrutiny over a personal vacation spent at a Vietnamese-owned hotel featuring luxury amenities. The repeated military visits suggest that despite the political sensitivity surrounding these ties, Bratislava is actively pursuing Vietnam as a potential buyer for its defense industry exports.