Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip to Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland achieved outstanding results

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, visited Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland from January 15 to 22. Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Hang answered the press about the outstanding results of this visit.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Hang. Photo: VNA

We would like to introduce the content of the interview:

Could you please tell us about the outstanding results of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh 's official visit to Poland, the Czech Republic and bilateral activities in Switzerland?

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to Poland and the Czech Republic and bilateral activities in Switzerland were very successful. The visit is a strong step in implementing the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress, strengthening and deepening the friendly and multifaceted cooperation with traditional partners in Western Europe and Central Eastern Europe.

This is the first exchange of delegations by the Head of Government in the past 18 years with Poland and the past 6 years with the Czech Republic, traditional friendly countries that have given the Vietnamese people selfless, pure, and wholehearted help in the cause of national liberation, national reunification, and the country's development today. The visit takes place in the context that Vietnam and Poland and the Czech Republic will celebrate the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in early February 2025, while Vietnam and Switzerland aim to celebrate the 55th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in 2026; Poland has just assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union since January 1, 2025.

All three countries gave the Prime Minister, his wife and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation a warm, friendly and sincere welcome from close friends. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had more than 30 talks, meetings, policy speeches, attended business forums, attended the “Homeland Spring” program, and visited a number of cultural, scientific and technical establishments in the countries.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit achieved remarkable results, bringing the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland to a new stage of development, specifically:

Firstly, to elevate the relationship and strengthen political trust. Vietnam and Poland have issued a joint statement towards upgrading the relationship to a Strategic Partnership; and the Czech Republic have issued a joint statement on upgrading the relationship between the two countries to a Strategic Partnership; and have issued a statement on upgrading the relationship with Switzerland to a Comprehensive Partnership. These are breakthroughs, further deepening the relationship between Vietnam and the three countries.

The countries agreed to increase delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels and channels, especially at high levels and people-to-people exchanges, to enhance mutual understanding and lay the foundation for expanding cooperation in other areas. Leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland highly appreciated Vietnam's increasingly high international status. The Czech Republic and Poland consider Vietnam the most important partner in Asia and have admiration for the country and people of Vietnam.

Second, create new momentum for cooperation in traditional areas such as trade, investment, tourism, education - training, defense - security, culture, tourism, labor... in line with the new partnership framework, expanding cooperation to areas where the parties have potential and need for cooperation such as digital transformation, green transformation, information and communication technology, cyber security, pharmaceuticals, automotive industry, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), aviation and railway connectivity...

One of the highlights of the visit was the agreement of the parties to strive to soon increase trade turnover to a higher level. Vietnam, Poland and the Czech Republic agreed to further open their markets to each other's agricultural, aquatic and food products within the framework of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); agreed to soon ratify the EU - Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and accelerate negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Vietnam and the three countries have signed eight cooperation agreements on diplomacy, labor, aviation, education, sports, and culture. In addition, in order to boost tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchange, Vietnam has decided to exempt visas for citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. This decision has been highly appreciated by leaders and public opinion of the neighboring countries.

Third, sharing viewpoints and agreeing to strengthen coordination at regional and international forums. The Prime Minister and the leaders of the three countries had in-depth discussions on many regional and international issues; agreed to strengthen coordination of stances and mutual support at multilateral organizations and forums to contribute to peace, stability, security, cooperation and sustainable development in the region and the world; agreed on the need to peacefully resolve disputes on the basis of respect for international law and the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Fourth, affirming the attention of the Party, State and Government for the overseas Vietnamese community. The Prime Minister and the delegation are extremely proud of the growth, solidarity and wholeheartedness towards the homeland of the overseas Vietnamese community in general and the community in the countries visited in particular. At all the talks and meetings, the Prime Minister asked the high-ranking leaders of the three countries to create more favorable conditions for the overseas Vietnamese community to integrate better, preserve and promote the cultural identity and Vietnamese language.

The Prime Minister suggested that Poland consider recognizing the Vietnamese community as an ethnic minority. Attending the “Spring Homeland” activities, the Prime Minister asked the people to continue promoting traditions, supporting each other to develop together, and becoming a bridge between Vietnam and the host country. Leaders of the countries highly appreciated the contributions of the Vietnamese community to the socio-economic development of the host country, affirming that they will continue to pay attention and support to the Vietnamese community in the host country.

It can be said that the Prime Minister's official visit to Poland, the Czech Republic and bilateral activities in Switzerland were successful in all aspects, helping to elevate the relationship, enhance the country's position, and create new momentum to deepen the strategic and comprehensive cooperation with the three visited countries in particular, and the Western and Central Eastern European regions in general.

Could you please tell us about the results of the Prime Minister's visit to attend the 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos with the theme "Cooperation in the Smart Age" and the messages that Vietnam conveyed at this Conference?

During more than 30 hours in Davos, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a busy schedule with many multilateral and bilateral activities. The working trip was successful in many aspects, achieving the set goals at a high level. Specifically:

Firstly, taking advantage of the Conference being the focal point of prestigious and globally influential corporations, the Prime Minister, leaders of many ministries, sectors and localities spoke and had dialogues with many leading corporations at 5 seminars on many key areas, related to the interests and development orientations of Vietnam from high technology, artificial intelligence (AI) to pharmaceuticals, smart infrastructure, green energy and financial centers.

The business community highly appreciated Vietnam's socio-economic management results, affirmed its readiness to support, expand cooperation and invest in Vietnam's priority areas, and wished to accompany Vietnam in realizing strategic development goals, first of all, implementing Resolution 57 on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation. Enterprises are particularly interested and committed to accompanying Vietnam in developing financial centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

Second, the Prime Minister's speeches and discussions left a deep impression on Vietnam's aspirations, vision and determination to develop, with "three readinesses" to welcome the smart era. That is institutional readiness, through the creation of a favorable legal corridor for science and technology enterprises, startups and innovation; readiness in resources, especially high-quality human resources to take the lead in innovation and digital transformation; readiness in infrastructure, especially key infrastructure serving digital transformation such as transportation, energy and clean water transmission, information and communication, and national databases.

Third, the Prime Minister's working trip continued to affirm Vietnam's international position and stature. At this Conference, the Prime Minister attended and spoke at 04 discussion sessions at the Conference, including 3 sessions designed specifically for Vietnam by WEF. A special dialogue session with WEF with the theme "Breakthrough to the future: Vietnam's vision on innovation and global role" was dedicated to the Prime Minister to share stories about Vietnam's aspirations, visions, lessons and strategic development orientations as well as suggestions for promoting international cooperation in the smart era.

This is one of the activities reserved for very few leaders that WEF assessed as having inspired and had influence among the total of more than 50 Presidents/Prime Ministers attending the Conference. The National Strategic Dialogue Session and the Multilateral Discussion Session between Vietnam and international partners were arranged by WEF specifically for Vietnam towards the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) hosted by Vietnam in 2025 and were highly appreciated by delegates.

Finally, we took full advantage of the working trip to promote and deepen relations with countries and international organizations in the context of a short time in Davos. The Prime Minister and members of the delegation had dozens of meetings with leaders of partners, promoting trade and investment cooperation with countries and strengthening cooperation with international organizations in areas such as trade, health, intellectual property, agriculture, renewable energy, etc.

The Prime Minister's participation in activities at Davos sent important messages to the international community, notably:

Message of sincerity, cooperation, international solidarity, the role of multilateralism in promoting sustainable, inclusive development and transformation to adapt to the smart era.

The message of humanity affirms that the intelligent era must be an era of development for people, serving people, taking people as the center, promoting cooperative initiatives for people in the new era.

Message about the responsibility of countries and businesses in the global ecosystem.

The above messages will continue to be conveyed throughout a series of exciting foreign affairs activities in 2025, including Vietnam hosting the 4th Partnership for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) Summit and the 16th UNCTAD Ministerial Conference, highlighting the image of Vietnam as a reliable, dynamic, creative, responsible and potential partner, a nation ready to enter the era of national growth and the era of intelligence for humanity.

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister.

Source