HÀ NỘI — There will be two direct flights weekly from Switzerland to Việt Nam starting November, Federal Councilor of Switzerland Doris Leuthard said on Tuesday when she met Transport Minister Nguyễn Văn Thể.

This is part of the agreement between the Swiss Federal Council and the Government of Việt Nam relating to scheduled air services they signed on the same day.

The agreement replaces the one the two sides signed in 1979 and amended in 1993 and 1998.

According to the old agreement, from November, 1997, Swissair operated two flights weekly on route Zurich – Bangkok – HCM City but until October, 2001, it stopped operating the route because of modest demand.

The new agreement that facilitated direct flights between the two countries would help boost their tourism and business, Leuthard said.

She also said infrastructure development including transport was very important to economic growth and Việt Nam faced challenges to develop infrastructure.

“Every time we come to Việt Nam, we see more people, more vehicles and more mobility,” she said.

Swiss companies came with Leuthard during her visit said they were seeking co-operation in fields of logistic, storage, energy and electrical vehicles.

Transport Minister Thể said Việt Nam and Switzerland had a fruitful relationship, in terms of economic co-operation with import-export revenue between the two countries reaching US$2 billion last year.

He called for Swiss investors to look towards Việt Nam, especially to transport projects because Việt Nam was developing key major projects such as Long Thành International Airport, urban metro in Hà Nội and HCM City, an expressway and railway stretching from the north to the south of the country.

Thể said that Việt Nam welcomed investors with financial experience to join in the projects under Public- Private Partnership contracts. — VNS