Swiss National Council head’s Vietnam visit to boost trade ties

Martin Candinas, President of the Swiss National Council, will visit Vietnam on June 28-30 to bolster economic relations, said the Swiss parliament.

He will be accompanied by the parliament’s first vice president Eric Nussbaumer, second vice president, Maja Riniker, and National Council member Ida Glanzmann-Hunkeler, the council said. It added Candinas’s Vietnam visit follows his June 26-27 visit to Singapore, also to enhance bilateral trade ties.

In Hanoi, Candinas will meet his Vietnamese counterpart Vuong Dinh Hue, State President Vo Van Thuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, the Swiss parliament said.

“The high-level talks will focus in particular on the importance of advancing negotiations on a progressive and ambitious free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EFTA countries.”

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is the intergovernmental organization of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. It was set up in 1960 by its then seven member states for the promotion of free trade and economic integration between its members.

Switzerland is supporting Vietnam's efforts to improve its legislation to ensure that industrialization is more compatible with sustainable development, that small and medium-sized enterprises are better integrated into value chains, and that banks are better supervised, the Swiss parliament said.

The Swiss delegation will visit companies taking part in various SECO programs and meet the heads of Swiss companies in Vietnam. It will also visit VinFast, one of the flagships of the Vietnamese economy, which produces electric vehicles using Swiss machinery and technology.

Candinas, during his visit, will also supervise the management and implementation of a technical assistance package worth CHF70 million ($78.1 million) for Vietnam from the Swiss Government for the 2021-2024 period, focusing on the fields of environmental protection and economic reform; and other Swiss projects in Vietnam.

Regarding the two countries’ bilateral relations, Swiss Ambassador Thomas Gass told Vietnam News Agency on Monday that the relationship has developed strongly over the past 52 years, not only in politics and multilateral cooperation, but also in economic cooperation, technical assistance, trade and investment, scientific research, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.

Switzerland always attaches importance to its friendship and cooperation with Vietnam and at the same time identifies Vietnam as an increasingly important economic partner and the two sides have a lot of room for cooperation, he said.