Economic and trade cooperation is an important pillar in Vietnam-Switzerland relations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the President and the Swiss House of Representatives to promote, support and encourage Swiss businesses to invest and do business in Vietnam, especially in areas where Switzerland has strengths and Vietnam has demand.

Thủ tướng Phạm Minh Chính tiếp Chủ tịch Hạ viện Thụy Sỹ Martin Candinas

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President of the Swiss House of Representatives Martin Candinas. (Source: VNA)

On the afternoon of June 30, at the Government headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with President of the Swiss National Council (Lower House) Martin Candinas, who is on an official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

The Prime Minister believes that the visit of Speaker of the House of Representatives Martin Candinas is an important milestone, contributing to opening a new page in Vietnam-Switzerland cooperation; at the same time, through this visit, the Speaker of the House of Representatives can feel the humane, friendly and hospitable culture and people of Vietnam.

The two leaders assessed that the Vietnam-Switzerland cooperation relationship has developed positively in recent times in fields such as politics-diplomacy, economics, development cooperation, science-technology, education-training, etc.

Switzerland is currently an important economic partner of Vietnam in Europe, ranking 22nd out of 141 countries and territories with the most investment projects in Vietnam, with a total FDI capital of 1.903 billion USD with 206 projects. From 1991-2021, Switzerland provided ODA of about 600 million USD to support Vietnam.

The two sides have maintained contact and delegation exchanges at all levels, even in the context of the pandemic. In 2021, the two countries have closely coordinated and organized many meaningful activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1971-2021), especially high-level visits. The two sides have also closely coordinated at multilateral forums and international organizations, especially at the United Nations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the reception. (Source: VNA)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Vietnam persistently and consistently implements a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, multilateralization, diversification and comprehensive and extensive international integration.

Affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Switzerland, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and welcomed the House of Representatives for its interest and support, and together with the Swiss Government, promoting the Vietnam-Switzerland relationship over the past time.

To increase political understanding and trust, and create momentum to promote multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, the Prime Minister suggested that both sides continue to promote delegation exchanges at all levels and people-to-people exchanges; closely coordinate at multilateral forums, contributing to peace, prosperity and stability in the region and the world.

The Prime Minister assessed that the world economy has many fluctuations with the global economic downturn, rising inflation, people's lives facing many difficulties; the prolonged consequences of Covid-19; geostrategic competition, protectionism, separation, fragmentation, lack of close connection; conflicts threatening global food and energy security; developing countries are most heavily impacted and have limited ability to adapt and withstand external shocks; climate change, natural disasters, and epidemics are increasingly complicated and unpredictable.

In that context, the Prime Minister said it is necessary to call for international solidarity, promote multilateralism and Vietnam-Switzerland need to cooperate more closely.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives President of the Swiss House of Representatives Martin Candinas. (Source: VNA)

The Prime Minister assessed that economic and trade cooperation is an important pillar in bilateral relations and there is still much room for further development; he asked the President and the Swiss House of Representatives to promote, support and encourage Swiss enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam, especially in areas where Switzerland has strengths and Vietnam has demand such as finance - banking, insurance, manufacturing industry, pharmaceuticals, agricultural processing, renewable energy and tourism services.

The Vietnamese Government welcomes and commits to creating favorable conditions for Swiss enterprises to expand their investment and long-term business in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister also asked Switzerland to increase support for Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of technology, access to expertise, capacity building, technology transfer, industrial cooperation, and trade opportunities in areas such as international competitiveness of enterprises and industries, and digital transformation.

The Prime Minister suggested that Switzerland, as an important voice in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), continue to promote the early conclusion of negotiations on the Vietnam-EFTA Free Trade Agreement in the coming time with balanced and mutually beneficial results. Vietnam is always ready to coordinate with Switzerland as well as other member countries in the EFTA bloc to soon narrow the gap on the remaining contents between the two sides.

Thanking Switzerland for providing ODA to Vietnam, the Prime Minister suggested that the two sides closely coordinate and effectively implement the "Vietnam-Switzerland Cooperation Program for the 2021-2024 period" (worth nearly 76 million USD) with priorities being to enhance the competitiveness of the private economic sector, develop the knowledge-based economy, and respond to new challenges in development and climate change.

At the same time, the Prime Minister proposed promoting cooperation in the fields of innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, sharing economy, etc.; supporting and sharing experiences with Vietnam in building a high-quality education system, increasing scholarships and creating conditions for Vietnamese students to study and research in Switzerland.

The Prime Minister thanked and asked the Swiss House of Representatives to continue supporting and creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Switzerland to stabilize their lives, integrate into the host society, and promote their active role as an important bridge to promote relations between the two countries.

President of the Swiss House of Representatives Martin Candinas speaks. (Source: VNA)

Thanking the Vietnamese side for the warm welcome, President of the Swiss House of Representatives Martin Candinas expressed his impression of the beauty of the country, people and culture of Vietnam, which have many similarities with Switzerland, and assessed that Vietnam is developing dynamically with new products including electric vehicles...

President of the Swiss House of Representatives Martin Candinas said that he and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue had a substantive and open discussion on measures to promote bilateral cooperation, especially at the parliamentary channel, and also had a working session with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade to deepen the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Switzerland in all fields.

President of the Swiss House of Representatives Martin Candinas affirmed that Vietnam has a strategic role in Switzerland's relations with the Southeast Asian region.

Swiss House of Representatives President Martin Candinas said that through discussions, Swiss businesses, including Nestle, all expressed satisfaction with the business environment in Vietnam and will continue to invest long-term here. Switzerland will continue to prioritize Vietnam in terms of development support and promote cooperation in human resource training with Vietnam. Switzerland is interested in and wishes to soon sign the Vietnam-EFTA Free Trade Agreement, hoping that the two sides can sign it in 2024.

At the meeting, the two sides also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated Switzerland’s active contributions to maintaining peace, security and development in the world.

House of Representatives President Martin Candinas affirmed that Switzerland supports the stance of Vietnam and ASEAN on ensuring security, safety, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law and the 1982 UNCLOS, fully implementing the DOC, and soon achieving a substantive and effective COC.

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