Receiving Ambassador Thomas Gass, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Switzerland; believing that the Ambassador will continue to make positive contributions to the development of bilateral relations.
On the afternoon of April 13, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Thomas Gass, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Swiss Confederation to Vietnam, on the occasion of his new assignment in Vietnam.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralization of foreign relations; proactively and actively integrates comprehensively and deeply into the international community; is a friend, a reliable partner and an active, responsible member of the international community.
In that spirit, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Switzerland; believes that during his term, the Ambassador will continue to make active contributions to the development of bilateral relations on the basis of good cooperation results.
Assessing that the Vietnam-Switzerland relationship is developing extensively and substantially in all areas, especially politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, and development cooperation, the Prime Minister suggested that the two countries increase exchanges and contacts at all levels, especially at high levels, to create momentum for expanding cooperation in all areas.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed Switzerland as an important economic partner of Vietnam in Europe, in which bilateral trade turnover and investment of Swiss enterprises in Vietnam have grown positively.
The Prime Minister proposed that Switzerland create favorable conditions and support businesses to invest in long-term, high-quality business in Vietnam, focusing on areas that Switzerland has strengths in and Vietnam prioritizes such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, climate change response, high-tech agriculture, banking-finance, and healthcare.
In addition, the two sides need to continue promoting negotiations on the Vietnam-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Free Trade Agreement to strengthen the pillar of investment and trade cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.
The two sides expanded cooperation in science and technology, education and training, and people-to-people exchange, which are important areas, thereby contributing to supporting Vietnam in improving the quality of human resources, as well as enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the Government and people of Switzerland for providing medical equipment to Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the timely and valuable assistance of international friends, including Switzerland, Vietnam has succeeded in preventing and controlling the pandemic, and quickly restored socio-economic activities.
The Prime Minister hopes that the Swiss Government will continue to support and facilitate the Vietnamese community to live and work, thereby contributing to the prosperous development of Switzerland and acting as a bridge to promote cooperation between the two countries.
Ambassador Thomas Gass thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for taking the time to meet him and expressed his honor to take on the new responsibility in Vietnam.
Sharing and agreeing with the Prime Minister's assessments, the Ambassador affirmed that Switzerland always attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation relationship with Vietnam.
The Ambassador expressed his impression of Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Vietnam's position and role in the region and internationally as well as its strong commitments to responding to climate change and reducing net emissions to zero by 2050.
The Swiss Ambassador affirmed that he will make efforts to contribute to promoting the cooperation between the two countries more practically and effectively during his term of office.
In particular, Switzerland is ready to accompany and expand cooperation with Vietnam in the fields of manufacturing technology, high technology, sustainable agriculture, and climate change response.
Ambassador Thomas Gass affirmed that Vietnam is an increasingly important economic partner of Switzerland and that the two sides still have much room for cooperation. On that basis, Switzerland wishes to promote the negotiation process of the Vietnam-EFTA Free Trade Agreement. At the same time, the two countries will strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of science and technology, education and training, tourism and people-to-people exchange.
Regarding multilateral cooperation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated and suggested that the two countries continue to cooperate and support each other at multilateral forums and international organizations, especially at the United Nations.
The Prime Minister asked Switzerland to support the stance and efforts of ASEAN and Vietnam in maintaining peace, stability, ensuring freedom, security, and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, and resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea./.
According to Pham Tiep (Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)
Source
Comment (0)