President of the Swiss National Council and the Federal Assembly Martin Candinas will pay an official visit to Việt Nam from June 27 to 30. — Photo Nationalrat Martin Candinas Facebook page

HÀ NỘI — The official visit of the President of the Swiss National Council Martin Candinas to Việt Nam from June 27 to 30 will be an opportunity to further strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

Ambassador of Switzerland to Việt Nam Thomas Gass made the statement in a recent interview with the Vietnam News Agency.

The visit also aims to reinforce the excellent ties between the two parliaments, he said.

During the visit, the Swiss official and his delegation will gain insight into the opportunities for cooperation with Việt Nam and discuss the signing of a free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the European Trade Association (EFTA) so as to promote investment and trade cooperation between the two countries in the near future.

According to the diplomat, EFTA is an intergovernmental organisation 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 European Union-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

“We look forward to accelerating the negotiation process of the Vietnam-EFTA; at the same time, strengthen bilateral cooperation to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in the fields of finance-banking, supporting the business-start-up community, science-technology, education-training, tourism, climate change response and people-to-people exchanges. These are also the topics that we want to discuss with Vietnamese leaders during the visit of President Martin Candinas,” said the diplomat.

During this visit, the delegation will supervise the management and implementation of a technical assistance package for Việt Nam worth 70 million Swiss Francs (CHF) (US$78.2 million) from the Swiss Government for the 2021-24 period, focusing on the fields of environmental protection and economic reform, along with other projects.

Switzerland established its diplomatic relations with Việt Nam on 11 October 1971 and opened its first Embassy in 1973.

Relations between Việt Nam and Switzerland have developed strongly over the past 50 years, extending beyond the political and the multilateral sphere to cover technical and economic cooperation, trade and investment, research and science, culture, tourism and people to people contacts. In addition to high-level contacts, trade and investment relations have also developed.

Swiss direct investment in Việt Nam in 2022 amounted to more than CHF2 billion with more than 100 Swiss companies in the country, according to statistics from the Embassy of Switzerland in Việt Nam.

Since 1991 when Switzerland became Việt Nam's technical and economic development partner, the country's government has provided CHF600 million to Việt Nam for socio-economic development. — VNS