Ambassador Thomas Gass: Strengthening the good cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Switzerland

At the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, President of the Swiss National Council Martin Candinas will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June 27 to 30, 2023.

President of the Swiss National Council Martin Candinas. Photo: VNA

Ahead of the visit, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Swiss Confederation to Vietnam Thomas Gass gave an interview to a VNA reporter about the content related to the visit. Could you please tell us about the purpose and significance of the upcoming official visit to Vietnam by President of the Swiss National Council Martin Candinas? High-level exchanges between the legislative bodies of the two countries always play a very important role in promoting bilateral cooperation. At the invitation of Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue, Mr. Martin Candinas, President of the Swiss National Council and the Council delegation will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June 27-30, 2023. The visit aims to strengthen the good cooperative relationship between the two countries, while consolidating the good relationship between the legislative bodies of the two countries. The visit will help Mr. Martin Candinas and the Swiss National Council delegation understand more about the cooperation opportunities, the rapid " economic boom" of Vietnam, and promote discussions related to the signing of a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) to promote investment and trade cooperation between the two countries in the coming time. Let me add more about EFTA, this is an intergovernmental organization established to promote free trade and economic integration for the benefit of four member countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. These four countries are not included in the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) (EVFTA). The visit is an opportunity to promote trade and investment between businesses of the two countries. Like the Vietnamese National Assembly, the Swiss National Council has the role of supervising the activities of state administrative agencies. During his visit to Vietnam, President Martin Candinas and the Council Delegation will supervise the management and implementation of a technical assistance package for Vietnam worth 70 million Swiss Francs (CHF) from the Swiss Government for the period 2021 - 2024, focusing on the fields of environmental protection and economic reform, along with other projects. Could you share your assessment of the current development of bilateral relations? Over the past 52 years, the relationship between Vietnam and Switzerland has developed strongly, not only in the fields of politics and multilateral cooperation, but also expanded to economic cooperation, technical assistance, trade, investment, scientific research, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchange. Regular high-level exchanges between the two countries have created a premise for trade and investment relations to continuously increase. In 2022, Switzerland's direct investment in Vietnam reached nearly CHF 2 billion, equivalent to VND 51 trillion. Switzerland is the 21st largest foreign investor and one of the important European investors in Vietnam. More than 100 Swiss companies are operating here. Since 1991, when Switzerland became Vietnam's technical and economic development cooperation partner, the Swiss Government has supported Vietnam with more than CHF 600 million (nearly VND 15 trillion) for socio-economic development. Currently, as a priority country in Switzerland's economic development cooperation program, Vietnam receives a technical assistance package worth CHF 70 million for the 2021-2024 period. Starting in 2020, through the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED), Switzerland and Vietnam will jointly fund the expansion and promotion of research cooperation between the two countries. Phase 2 of this cooperation program is expected to be launched in the fall of 2023. Negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is a member, have been underway since 2012 and are still one of the important issues that the two countries are particularly interested in and have devoted much effort to.

I would like to emphasize that Switzerland always attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, and at the same time identifies Vietnam as an increasingly important economic partner. There is still much room for cooperation between the two sides. We wish to promote the negotiation process of the Vietnam - EFTA Free Trade Agreement; at the same time, strengthen bilateral cooperation to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in the fields of finance and banking, support for the business community - startups, science - technology, education - training, tourism, climate change response and people-to-people exchange. These are also the contents that we want to discuss with Vietnamese leaders during President Martin Candinas' visit. As a leading country in innovation and digital transformation, what measures will Switzerland take to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science - technology, education - training, towards establishing a framework for a Partnership on Innovation? I believe that Vietnam has great potential in the field of innovation and digital transformation, especially when you have a young, dynamic and creative population. If you can take advantage of this strength, Vietnam will certainly continue to develop with great strides. Vietnam is implementing the Socio-Economic Development Strategy for the period 2021-2030 with science and technology playing a key role. Switzerland has strengths in the fields of innovation and digital transformation. In that context, we hope to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science and technology, education and training, towards establishing a framework for a Partnership on Innovation. Switzerland will welcome Vietnamese delegations to exchange specific cooperation, including cooperation between leading Swiss universities and Vietnamese universities. In addition, throughout all our support activities for Vietnam, we will use new technologies and digitalization, for example in financial technology applications, using e-commerce platforms or public asset management; supporting innovative solutions to enhance climate change resilience and urban planning towards sustainable development in cities. Thank you very much, Ambassador!

Viet Duc/Vietnam News Agency (conducted)