Swiss President Guy Parmelin greets and shakes hands with President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on his official visit to Switzerland. (Photo: VOV)

The just-concluded trip is a testament to the close, traditional friendship between Vietnam and the two European countries.

Traditional friendship

 "The Vietnam-Switzerland friendship is a priceless asset," President Phuc told Swiss President Parmelin. He said, "The State and people of Vietnam always remember and appreciate Switzerland's valuable support and help for Vietnam in its past struggle for national independence and today’s national construction.” President Phuc thanked the Swiss Government for providing valuable ODA to Vietnam, helping Vietnam to achieve many socio-economic development goals and complete the UN Millennium Development Goals ahead of schedule.

The President said Vietnam is making an effort to improve its transparent business and investment environment, creating favorable conditions for foreign businesses to operate in Vietnam in fields where Vietnam can benefit from Switzerland’s strengths - finance, banking, and insurance.

Swiss leaders said they consider Vietnam an important economic partner in Southeast Asia. Both sides agreed to soon conclude negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) led by Switzerland.

The highlight of the Switzerland visit was the Business Summit co-chaired by Mr. Phuc and Mr. Parmelin, who galvanized business confidence that the two economies of Vietnam and Switzerland are complementary and there is a huge potential to be unlocked.

In Geneva, the center of international organizations and multilateral forums, President Phuc met Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and announced Vietnam‘s additional voluntary contribution of 500,000 USD to the COVAX Program, bringing its total voluntary contribution to 1 million USD. Mr. Phuc called on partners to support Vietnam’s efforts to become a center for the transfer of m-RNA vaccine technology and vaccine production for the Western Pacific region. He also asked the WHO to include Vietnam's Nanocovax vaccine in its global clinical trial program.

During a meeting with Director-General of the UN Office Tatiana Valovaya, President Phuc repeated Vietnam’s support for the UN’s role in global governance, and affirmed Vietnam’s desire to develop a comprehensive cooperative relationship with the UN. 2022 will mark 45 years since Vietnam joined the UN.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Russia bolster current relations and recalled Russians’ contributions to Vietnam’s struggle for national independence.

Opening the meeting with President Vladimir Putin, President Phuc called Russia is "a great and close friend of the Vietnamese people." According to him, this historic conversation which lasted nearly 4 hours, showed that the two countries have overcome all difficulties and obstacles in their bilateral relations. The two issued a high-level joint statement with a Vision to 2030.

Vietnamese and Russian leaders agreed to continue effectively implementing the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union, and create more favorable conditions for bilateral trade and investment in order to create breakthroughs in their cooperation.

President Phuc delivered the opening speech at the Vietnam-Russia Business Forum, met leaders of major Russian groups in healthcare, oil and gas, and finance, and witnessed the signing of an agreement authorizing  direct flight by Vietjet Air  between Vietnam and Moscow. According to Mr. Phuc, Russia is not only an important economic, social, and defense partner, but also a leading foreign relations partner of Vietnam for peace and stability.

The first trip to Europe by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc in his new position is consolidating the traditional friendship and building cooperation momentum Vietnam’s relations with Switzerland and Russia.