On November 25-29, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Vietnamese delegation attended nearly 30 events in Switzerland. This was the first official visit to Europe by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

After a flight of over 12 hours from Hanoi, the special plane carrying President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Vietnamese delegation landed at Geneva International Airport, starting an official visit to Switzerland.

Photo: Officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and overseas Vietnamese in Switzerland welcome the President, his wife and the Vietnamese delegation at the airport.

Swiss President Guy Parmelin hosted a welcome ceremony for his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. After the welcome ceremony, they held talks.

Switzerland is one of the first Western countries to officially establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam. During the past half-century, the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries have developed well in many fields, especially in politics, economy, trade - investment, development cooperation and science - technology.

The Swiss President emphasized that Vietnam is an important economic partner of Switzerland in Southeast Asia.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that Vietnam is making efforts to improve the transparency of the business and investment environment, creating favorable conditions for foreign businesses to operate long-term in Vietnam.

The two sides agreed to increase high-level exchanges and contacts between the ministries, agencies and localities of the two countries. deepen mutual understanding and trust, and promote bilateral cooperation in all fields. Photo: Officials of the two countries hold talks.

"The relationship between Vietnam and Switzerland has achieved many goals. I believe that the visit of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will be a landmark and a new development in relations between the two countries," said Swiss President Guy Parmelin at a meeting with the press.

The two sides agreed to conclude the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) to promote bilateral trade relations.

Photo: The two Presidents chaired the joint press conference.

At a meeting with the President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to consolidating and enhancing the traditional friendship and cooperation with Switzerland. The relationship was built from the difficult years of war and nurtured by the people of the two countries over the past 50 years. 

President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi Aebi expressed his wish for stronger cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries and his support for strengthened economic ties, notably the early signing of the FTA between Vietnam, and the EFTA. 

Photo: President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi Aebi and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

At the end of the first day of the trip, the Vietnamese and Swiss Presidents attended and spoke at the Vietnam - Switzerland High-Level Business Forum, with 100 businesses of the two countries taking part. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on Swiss businesses to invest in Vietnam and cooperate with Vietnamese businesses. 

Swiss President Guy Parmelin said that the potential for cooperation between the two countries is huge and new cooperation frameworks are needed to promote Swiss investment in Vietnam. 

Photo: President Nguyen Xuan Phuc spoke at the forum.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with a number of business leaders and the Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Switzerland, the Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Turin (Italy), and received the book "Ho Chi Minh with letters of wish for peace for Vietnam" from her.

Photo: Mrs. Sandra Scagliotti, Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Turin, presents a book about President Ho Chi Minh's letters to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

On the second working day, the President and his wife met Bern Mayor Alec von Granffenried and were taken by the Mayor to visit the city of Bern. The mayor said that the Swiss love to travel. Over the past decade, many Swiss have become fans of Vietnam. 

The Vietnamese President proposed that the Bern city government cooperate with 12 Vietnamese localities that are the home to UNESCO world cultural heritages, especially in preserving and promoting cultural values ​​and these heritage sites in Switzerland. 

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Mayor of Bern visit a tourist site in Bern.

The President had a warm and friendly meeting with the staff of Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese community in Switzerland. He affirmed that overseas Vietnamese are an integral part of the Vietnamese ethnic community, and they are an important resource to the cause of national construction and development. 

On the third working day, the President and the Vietnamese delegation went to Geneva to meet with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the President of the World Football Federation (FIFA).

The President paid a visit to the headquarters of the United Nations Office and met with the Director-General Tatiana Valoya. He said that Vietnam supports the United Nations in promoting its central role in global governance and preserving international peace and security, promoting sustainable development, ensuring human rights, and effectively responding to common challenges, especially non-traditional challenges.

Ms. Tatiana Valoya praised Vietnam's excellent performance as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council 2020-2021 with many initiatives and practical contributions to global issues. Vietnam is a developing country but shows a leading role and a role model in combating climate change. 

Photo: The Vietnamese President presents a gift to the General Director of the United Nations Office.

In a meeting with the President of the World Football Federation Gianni Infantino, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he hoped that FIFA would continue to promote activities of world football after the Covid-19 epidemic. Vietnam has always supported FIFA's activities, and will actively participate in events organized by FIFA. The FIFA President said that he would like to see the Vietnamese team participate in the World Cup finals. 

Photo: President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The President also visited the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) and worked with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Seth Berkley, and Executive Director of COVAX Program Aurélia Nguyen. 

The President suggested that WHO, GAVI, and the COVAX Program support Vietnam to strengthen the capacity of the health system, especially grassroots health care, and expand immunization capacity. He requested technical support for Vietnam's Nanocovax vaccine to join the WHO's global clinical trial program. 

The WHO Director-General supported the idea of ​​​​turning Vietnam into a regional center for vaccine production, and said that WHO would discuss with the technical agency about the possibility of adding Vietnamese-made vaccines to the global testing program of this organization.

Meeting with Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the President emphasized that Vietnam supports efforts and initiatives to reform the WTO on the basis of maintaining a balance between interests and obligations, ensuring that it is appropriate to the level of development and enforcement capacity of its members, especially developing and underdeveloped members. 

The Director General of WTO spoke about her impression of Vietnam's achievements in socio-economic development and international economic integration. 

Photo: President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Director General of the WTO.

The President visited WIPO headquarters and worked with WIPO Director General Daren Tang. At the meeting, he suggested that WIPO continue to support Vietnam in the implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy and the Intellectual Property Law, develop an advanced culture, and train a team of qualified experts.

In the talks with President of the Geneva State Council Serge Dal Busco, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc proposed that Geneva create favorable conditions for its businesses to expand investment and business cooperation in Vietnam and establish partnerships with localities of Vietnam. 

Geneva State Council President Serge Dal Busco welcomed the Vietnamese President's proposals, especially on cooperation between Geneva and Vietnamese localities.

Visiting officials and employees of the Vietnamese mission in Geneva and Vietnamese experts working at international organizations in Switzerland, the President emphasized the spirit of making more efforts for Viet Nam, contributing to multilateral foreign affairs, and raising Vietnam's position. Photo: The President and Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, head of the Vietnamese mission in Geneva. 

Switzerland gave the Vietnamese President and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation a respectful welcome with the highest etiquette, warm and sincere affection, and expressed the desire to cooperate with Vietnam more extensively for mutual development. 

Tran Thuong

Photo: VietNamNet, VNA, VOV

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