Deputy PM holds talks with Swiss Vice President

Both sides agreed to jointly hold celebrations for the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties next year.

Host and guest affirmed that the two governments will continue providing support for Swiss and Vietnamese firms, especially in fields of Switzerland’s strength and Vietnam’s demand such as finance-banking, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, farm produce and tourism.

The two sides will continue stepping up negotiations on the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), to which Switzerland is a member, thus meeting the demand of the two economies.

Binh thanked Switzerland for development cooperation programmes for Vietnam in the fields of personnel training, rural and urban development, and poverty reduction, contributing to realising sustainable development goals in Vietnam.

He asked the European country to continue assisting Vietnam in stabilising macro-economy, reforming finance-banking, improving the capacity of global integration, coping with climate change, as well as reinforcing joint work across sustainable tourism, exports, labour market and social insurance with Vietnamese localities.

In education, the two shared experiences in improving high-quality tertiary and vocational education in combination with science-technology development, and discussed increasing scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in Switzerland in the fields of law, banking, technology and tourism.

During a meeting with Governor of Bern Canton Christoph Ammann, Binh affirmed that Vietnam always treasures the development of friendship and traditional cooperation with Switzerland at all levels, and wished that the canton would continue making further contributions to bilateral ties.

Host and guest vowed to enhance the sharing of information to fully tap bilateral cooperation potential, especially in fields of Bern’s strength such as tourism, technology, environment, education-training and research.

The Vietnamese official asked local authorities and business community to continue supporting talks on FTA between Vietnam and the EFTA, thus creating a new driving force for bilateral economic cooperation and facilitating trade and investment.