During this 3.5 days visit, H.E. Mr. Martin Candinas and his delegation will have a wide-ranging program, including official meetings with H.E. Mr. Vương Đình Huệ, Chairman of the National Assembly and other leaders of the country, with Minister of Industry and Trade, with Hai Phong City’s authorities, as well as visits to projects financed by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), meetings with the Swiss community in Hanoi and representatives of Swiss companies in Viet Nam.
This high-ranking visit will be an outstanding opportunity to further strengthen Switzerland’s partnership with Viet Nam as well as to reinforce the excellent ties between the two parliaments. During the visit, H.E. Mr. Martin Candinas and his delegation will gain insight into the opportunities and energy of Viet Nam, collect information about the “Vietnamese economic boom” and on the effectiveness of Swiss development cooperation in this country in order to inform the Swiss Parliament and public.
Switzerland established its diplomatic relations with Vietnam on 11 October 1971 and opened its first Embassy in 1973.
Relations between Viet 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 Viet Nam in 2022 amounted to more than CHF 2 billion / VND 51 trillion (21st rank among foreign investors and among the largest European ones in Viet Nam). More than 100 Swiss companies are active in Viet Nam. The Swiss government has pursued technical and economic cooperation with Viet Nam since 1991 and has disbursed more than CHF 600 million (nearly VND 15 trillion) in support of Viet Nam’s socio-economic development. Viet Nam is currently one of Switzerland's priority countries for economic development cooperation and will receive CHF 70 million for 2021-2024 under a technical assistance programme. Starting in 2020, Switzerland and Viet Nam provide funding through a partnership with NAFOSTED to expand and strengthen Vietnamese-Swiss research cooperation; and a second one is to be launched in autumn 2023. Negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is a member, and Viet Nam have been under way since 2012 and are currently one of the key issues on which both countries are working.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Ms. Trần Thị Khánh Vân
Communication and Culture Officer
Email: thi-khanh-van.tran@eda.admin.ch
Phone: +84 24 39 34 65 89 (ext. 803972)
Media Briefing Information Kit (PDF, 14 Pages, 1.1 MB, English)
Bộ thông tin dành cho báo chí (PDF, 13 Pages, 1.3 MB, Vietnamese)
