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Promoting multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Switzerland

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has paid an official visit to Switzerland from November 25-29 at the invitation of Swiss President Guy Parmelin. More than half a century, relations between Vietnam and Switzerland have developed strongly not only in politics and multilateral cooperation but also in trade, investment, science, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchange.
This was President Phuc’s first official visit to Europe in his new position as the head of State of Vietnam. The visit, which coincided with the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, aimed to further deepen the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam promotes practical relations with Switzerland

The success of the visit strongly conveyed a message on Vietnam's desire to promote multifaceted and practical relations with Switzerland through new cooperation orientations, and potentials in economy, trade and investment. The trip affirmed Vietnam's policy of attaching importance to cooperation with the UN as well as specialised UN organisations based in Switzerland; as well as of mobilising support for Vietnam’s efforts for COVID-19 prevention and control, recovery and socio-economic development in the coming time via innovation, creativity and implementation of sustainable development goals.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc held talks with his Swiss counterpart Guy Parmelin following the official welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese leader in Bern city on November 26.

President Phuc affirmed that the State and people of Vietnam always keep in mind and treasure the precious support and assistance that Switzerland has given to their struggle for national independence in the past as well as national development at present.

The two leaders noted with satisfaction that over the last half century, the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries have been growing well in multiple fields. They discussed areas of cooperation and reached consensus on many measures to advance Vietnam - Switzerland relations. They agreed to increase exchanges and meetings to further intensify mutual understanding and trust and promote bilateral cooperation in all aspects.

President Parmelin highly valued Vietnam’s breakthrough achievements in socio-economic development and COVID-19 containment, stressing that Vietnam is an important economic partner of Switzerland in Southeast Asia.

Asking the Government of Switzerland to encourage Swiss enterprises to invest in Vietnam, President Phuc noted that the Southeast Asian nation is working hard to improve the business - investment climate and create favourable conditions for foreign firms to operate in the long term.


Swiss President Guy Parmelin (L) and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc reviewed the guard of honour at the welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese leader in Bern city on November 26 morning. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


The official welcome ceremony for President Nguyen Xuan Phuc is held at Lohn Manor in Bern city. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Swiss President Guy Parmelin. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc holds talks with Swiss President Guy Parmelin. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc holds talks with Swiss President Guy Parmelin at a joint press conference after their talks. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

President Parmenlin also said that the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is a member, will certainly be effective in the future.

President Phuc and President Parmelin co-chaired a Vietnam - Switzerland Business Forum in Bern, with the participation of representatives from over 100 businesses of the two countries.
Meanwhile, at a meeting with President Phuc, President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi supported increasing the nations’ economic collaboration, particularly soon concluding the FTA between Vietnam and the EFTA, and expressed his willingness to cooperate with Vietnam in innovation.


During his official visit to Switzerland, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi on November 26. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

Also in Bern, President Phuc met with Mayor of Bern Alec Von Graffenried and received former Swiss President Schneider Ammann, and Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Switzerland Philipp Roesler, who is former Deputy Prime Minister, former Minister of Economy and Science and Technology of Germany, as well as leaders of local businesses.

In Geneva, President Phuc met Director General of the UN Office in Geneva Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Daren Tang.

During the official visit, many bilateral activities took place between leaders of Vietnamese ministries, central departments, and sectors with Swiss partners and UN organisations.

During President Phuc's official visit to Switzerland, many bilateral activities took place between leaders of Vietnamese ministries, central departments, and sectors with Swiss partners and UN organisations.

Vietnam - Switzerland relations continue to broaden

The year 1971 marked the establishment of Vietnam – Switzerland diplomatic ties. Over half a century of good cooperation, the two nations’ bilateral relations have constantly developed and become stronger.

On the basis of reliable political relations, their economic cooperation has recorded many positive results. Despite the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, the total bilateral import-export turnover reached 863.5 million USD in 2020. Switzerland is an important trade partner of Vietnam with 177 direct investment projects worth total about 1.9 billion USD, ranking 20th among 140 countries and territories with direct investment capital in Vietnam.


Sandra Scagliotti, Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Turin, Italy presents the book "Ho Chi Minh with letters wishing for peace for Vietnam", which she translated from Vietnamese language into Italian, to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Mayor of Bern Alec Von Graffenried. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives Marco Gadola, Chairman of the Board of Directors of DKSH Group which provides market development services for Vietnamese companies wishing to develop their business. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc writes in a scrapbook at the office of the United Nations in Geneva. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA
 


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the Vietnam - Switzerland Business Forum. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


Representatives of Vietjet and SR Technics exchange the signed MoU under the witness of Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (sitting, left) and Swiss President Guy Parmelin (sitting, right). Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA
 

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with President of the state's Council Serge Dal Busco. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA 


 President Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva on November 29 morning. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA


President Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the ceremony bestowing the WIPO’s IP Youth Ambassador title upon three Vietnamese students who invented a helmet called Vihelm. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

One of the highlights in the bilateral relationship between the two countries is the development cooperation. As one of the few Western European countries that has maintained development assistance and economic cooperation for Vietnam over the past three decades, Switzerland’s total funding for Vietnam is up to 600 million USD. Both bilateral and multilateral development cooperation projects, which were funded by Switzerland, have been carried out actively, effectively contributing to the socio-economic development and implementation of Millennium Development Goals towards the realisation of Vietnam's sustainable development goals. 
VNA/VNP


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