Minister Nguyen Chi Dung receives Swiss Vice President, Minister the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (06/08/2021-10:22:00 AM)

(MPI) - Minister Nguyen Chi Dung met with Swiss Vice President, Minister of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis on his occasion of visiting and working in Vietnam on August 6th, 2021, at the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

At the meeting, Swiss Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis thanked Minister Nguyen Chi Dung for taking the time to welcome the delegation and said that, in the context the complicated on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Switzerland wished to emphasize the important of the two countries' relations through the visit, especially when 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam - Switzerland diplomatic relations.

Swiss Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis expressed his pleasure to visit Vietnam and meet with Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, work with Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and some agencies of Vietnam to discuss orientations and agree to raise the level of the two countries' relations in the coming time. He wished President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to pay a visit to Switzerland during this anniversary year.

Regarding the cooperation with the MPI, Swiss Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis mentioned that the Switzerland's ODA over the past 30 years had contributed to reduce the poverty rate in Vietnam. The cooperation will focus on sustainable development, innovation and science and technology in the coming time.

Minister Dung welcomed Swiss Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis to pay a visit and work in Vietnam and he stressed that Switzerland had always been an important partner and a great friend of Vietnam in the past 50 years. Switzerland has accompanied the development process and supported Vietnam in many important areas. Switzerland has helped Vietnam with not only capital but also experience and knowledge.

Vietnam is entering a new stage of development, implementing the 10-year socio-economic development strategy for 2021-2030 and the 5-year socio-economic development plan for 2021-2025. Vietnam has attained many important achievements in various fields over the past time, but the goal of the next period is ambitious and the coutry would face many difficulties. Vietnam's economy is still in the process of transition to a market economy, while the world situation is complicated and unpredictable, climate change is having a great impact on Vietnam, the gap between rich and poor, the gap of development between regions and social classes are happening. Moreover, infrastructure and human resources have not met the requirements, and science, technology, and innovation have not been promoted. How to quickly and sustainably develop to become a developing country with modern industry, overcoming the middle-income trap is a huge challenge.

In the coming time, Vietnam will adjust its economic model to a sustainable and green growth economy. Of which, the country will focus on promoting opportunities from Vietnamese human resources, applying science, technology and innovation for rapid development, developing the economy in connection and harmony with social and environmental development; sustainably developing, ensuring fairness so that all classes and people could enjoy what they deserve, paying more attention to health, education, jobs and livelihoods of people in difficult areas, etc.

Considering the situations and development goals of Vietnam in the coming period, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung highly appreciated the cooperation program with nearly USD 80 million aid for four years from Switzerland to Vietnam. The program focuses on the orientations and priorities of Vietnam and promotes the strengths of Switzerland in accordance with the world's trends. Vietnamese agencies will closely coordinate with Swiss agencies to develop specific projects and plans to effectively implement the Program. The MPI highly appreciated and thanked the Swiss Government, agencies and people, especially the Swiss Embassy in Vietnam for always closely coordinating in the cooperation process of the two sides.

Minister Dung suggested that the Swiss Government pay attention to the implementation of Vietnam's green growth strategy, including circular economy, green economy, digital economy towards an economy of knowledge; eradicating hunger and reducing poverty, raising the living standards of people in disadvantaged areas, supporting the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises to enhance their capacity and competitiveness. The MPI will continue to support and accompany Swiss firms to invest and do business in Vietnam, focusing on removing difficulties for enterprises.

According to Swiss Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis, the cooperation program for 2021-2024 is the result of exchange and cooperation efforts between the two sides. For Switzerland, all of the cooperation programs aimed to help the partner country reduce poverty, which is the most crucial goal.

In the coming period with Vietnam, he stated that one of the focuses for investment was to develop the private sector to have dynamic and diverse enterprises of different scales. Vietnam must reform the public spending sector, have good governance policies at the state level but still ensure that the private sector has enough space to operate. There must be a financial sector strong enough to support and accompany enterprises, and simplifying administrative procedures to effectively support enterprises. At the same time, the policy of urban construction and development should aim for stable and sufficient infrastructure for each city, serving the needs of the economy and enterprises, as well as the people's demands, so that everyone could get access to safe and convenient infrastructure.

Finally, Swiss Vice President expressed his support for Minister Dung's initiative to mobilize Swiss resources for the Program to aid enterprises in digital transformation and strengthen cooperation in science, technology and innovation. Both sides will actively discuss to build a cooperation framework as soon as possible./.

Ministry of Planning and Investment