The long geographical distance is unable to prevent the strong development of the friendly and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Switzerland in the past five decades. This close and sincere relationship was demonstrated through the warm welcome extended by Swiss friends to the Vietnamese delegation.

During the talks with Swiss President Guy Parmelin, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasised that exactly 50 years ago, in 1971, when the Vietnamese people’s struggle for national liberation was at its most difficult time, Switzerland was one of the first Western countries to formally establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam, laying the first bricks in building a bridge of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Looking back at the journey of cooperation in the past 50 years, the two sides noted with pleasure that the time-honoured friendship and cooperation relationship between the two countries is growing well in all fields. In the spirit of construction, trust and mutual understanding, the two sides made in-depth, comprehensive and substantive discussions, and reached a consensus on specific measures to encourage the Vietnam-Switzerland relationship to grow commensurate with the potential and strengths of both countries.

Trade cooperation is a bright spot of Vietnam-Switzerland bilateral cooperation. During President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s meetings with Swiss leaders, the two sides agreed to soon conclude negotiations on a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), in which Switzerland is a leading country, helping to foster bilateral trade cooperation to grow stronger. The two countries consider this as a priority that needs to be promoted in a flexible manner with balanced benefits, laying the firm legal foundation for the two countries’ enterprises to forge long-term cooperation, including the protection of intellectual property rights in transferring technology to Vietnam.

Receiving the leaders of some top Swiss enterprises in the fields of infrastructure, heavy industry, high technology, electricity, and pharmaceuticals, the President suggested the Swiss Government pay special attention to financial support in order to encourage Swiss enterprises seeking long-term investment opportunities in Vietnam, thereby opening favourable opportunities for investments, business and trade activities.

Within the framework of the visit, the two sides also achieved encouraging cooperation results in science and technology. The two sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the fields of science and technology, education and training, towards establishing a partnership framework on creative innovation. The Swiss side will welcome Vietnamese delegations to exchange specific cooperation, including cooperation between five leading universities in Switzerland and Vietnam. This cooperation result is extremely meaningful when Vietnam is implementing the Socio-Economic Development Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, with science and technology playing a key role, identifying creative innovation and digital transformation is a strength of Switzerland.

The year 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of Switzerland’s development cooperation programme (ODA) in Vietnam. The precious ODA that the Swiss Government provided has made an important contribution to Vietnam's human resource training, urban development, poverty reduction and rural development, thereby obtaining many achievements in socio-economic development. The Swiss President said that Vietnam is an effective partner in using ODA and the Swiss Government has decided to continue providing 70 million Swiss francs (more than 75.6 million USD) in ODA to Vietnam in the 2021-2024 period, with a focus on the fields of environmental protection and economic reform.

Meeting with representatives of associations, unions, friendship organisations and representatives of the Vietnamese community living and working in many states throughout Switzerland, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasised that the friendship between the two people is a valuable asset that needs to be preserved and promoted in the future.

Enhancing multilateral diplomacy, affirming Vietnam's position in the international arena

One of the highlights of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s trip to Europe is the multilateral foreign affairs activities. The President has spent countless hours of his busy schedule in Switzerland to receive leaders of multilateral organisations based in this beautiful Central European country.

A series of meetings, with leaders of the United Nations Office in Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), sent a strong message from Vietnam about the importance of cooperation with the UN, as well as other international organisations. It is also an affirmation of the policy of raising the level of multilateral diplomacy, actively participating, contributing and enhancing Vietnam's role in multilateral institutions.

Additionally, in the context that flexible control and adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic is currently the top priority of the country, President Phuc’s meetings with leaders of multilateral organisations are of great significance. The leaders sent the President firm commitments on continuing to support Vietnam in effectively responding to the pandemic and economic recovery in the post-pandemic period.

Over 44 years since Vietnam joined the UN – the world's largest multilateral organisation, the two sides have gone through a long journey with important developments in the history of bilateral cooperation. Starting from a country receiving aid from the UN to overcome the consequences of war, Vietnam has now become an active member of the UN, having made many positive, responsible and comprehensive contributions to the UN’s activities.

At a meeting with Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that the effective multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and the UN is considered a top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification. Vietnam wishes to develop comprehensive cooperation with the UN, especially in the context that 2022 will mark the 45th anniversary of Vietnam’s accession into the UN, he said.

While lauding that UN-Vietnam relations have made significant progress in many areas, Tatiana Valovaya highly valued Vietnam’s excellent performance as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 with many initiatives and practical contributions to global issues.

She also lauded Vietnam’s determination and efforts in protecting human rights and realising the sustainable development goals, emphasising that Vietnam is a developing country but shows its leading role and is a model in combating climate change. She added that the UN always attaches great importance and eagerness to cooperate with Vietnam when promoting areas of shared concern.

During a meeting with Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghegreyesus at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced that Vietnam will contribute an additional 500,000 USD to the COVAX Facility, raising its total voluntary donation to the vaccine-sharing scheme up to 1 million USD. As Vietnam is one of the few developing countries that make voluntary financial contributions to COVAX, this strongly demonstrates Vietnam’s solidarity and shared responsibility to the international community.

For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghegreyesus said the WHO backs Vietnam’s proposal of turning itself into a regional hub of vaccine manufacturing. He also affirmed to consider the possibility of providing technical assistance for Vietnam's.

Seth Berkley, CEO of the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), and Aurélia Nguyen, Managing Director of the COVAX Facility asserted the continued cooperation with Vietnam, adding that allocation of additional COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam will be made as many as possible and as early as time allows.

The Vietnam – Russia relationship has endured the test of time for nearly 72 years with many historical ups and downs. The official visit to Russia by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc was an opportunity for the two countries to review achievements in bilateral cooperation while opening up a new cooperation period of the Vietnam – Russia comprehensive strategic partnership with a vision to 2030.

In the atmosphere of trust, sincerity and openness that has come to characterise the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Russia, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed and concurred on many important directions and measures to open up a new phase of cooperation with a view towards practicality in the future, and a vision to 2030.

During State leader Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Russia, Vietnam was transferred the technology to produce the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 from Russia. This is an important highlight of the bilateral cooperation in the health sector.

Accordingly, T&T Group Joint Stock Company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Binnopharm Group on the transfer of production technology and the formation of a research centre and a facility with full processing of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine production in Vietnam;  at the same time transferring production technology, jointly establishing a research centre and a facility with full processing of drugs for the prevention of COVID-19 and other pharmaceuticals in Vietnam. In the context of the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic with the emergence of new variants, a timely "handshake" between businesses of the two countries is of great significance in supporting Vietnam not only to be proactive in the supply of vaccines, but also to combat the continuous new strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The close and strong friendship between Vietnam and Russia is a valuable common asset of the two peoples. At the meeting with officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and representative agencies of Vietnam in the Russia, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the agencies to perform the tasks assigned by the Party and the State as well as to nurture the good relationship between the two countries; at the same time, support the lives of overseas Vietnamese to have more practical activities and contribute further to the homeland.

According to the Vietnam News Agency, Vietnamese and Russian diplomats, scholars and experts highly appreciated the significance of State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's official visit to Russia for the development prospects of the two countries' relations.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the Russian Federation Dang Minh Khoi: This official visit to Russia by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc is very important for the relationship between the two countries. The visit will further deepen and lift bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to a greater height in all areas of the new situation, affirming that Vietnam – Russia ties are close-knit and loyal. It can be said that this is a rare relationship in the world and also affirms that the two countries share many views on the world and regional situations.

Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Gennady Bezdetko affirmed that President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit is one of the important highlights in the bilateral agenda for 2021, which is expected to bring a new impetus to promote the Russia-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership in many fields, ensuring that this relationship continues to develop well in the future.

Dr. Alexander Sokolovsky, Chairman of the Russia – Vietnam Friendship Association of Primorye province, stressed that the visit is necessary. He commented that the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership is solid, promising and needs to be maintained regularly.

Dr. Evgeny Vlasov, Deputy Vice President for International Relations at the Far Eastern Federal University of Russia (DVFU), said in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fact that the President of Vietnam is one of the few foreign leaders to directly meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this year, shows the close connection between the leaders of the two countries.

Published: December 2021
Managers: Ngoc Thanh, Bich Hanh
Content: Minh Hang, Nguyen Ha
Translation: NDO
Design: Nguyen Trang, Dang Phi, Phan Anh
Photos: Vietnam News Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association, Swiss Embassy in Vietnam