VietNamNet Bridge – Mr. Urban Ahlin, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, will pay an official visit to Vietnam on the occasion of Sweden’s participation in the 132nd General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132) in Hanoi, from March 28 to April 1.

It has been 20 years since a speaker of the Swedish Parliament visited Vietnam. Then, in 1995, the former Swedish Speaker Ms Birgitta Dahl was the first speaker from a Western country speaking at Vietnam’s National Assembly.

Urban Ahlin is travelling with a delegation of six parliamentarians from four different political parties. Together they represent Sweden in two very important committees, the steering Committee on the WTO and the Committee on Middle East Questions.

During his visit, Urban Ahlin will undertake a broad range of engagements to discuss and promote Sweden’s cooperation with Vietnam in areas such as parliamentary exchange, economics and trade and higher education.

He will hold talks with the National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung followed by a courtesy visit to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

In Hanoi, he will also have meetings with Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang.

“My visit serves to strengthen ties between our countries and our peoples and provide opportunities for mutual understanding of good parliamentary practices and contributing to the enhancement of trade flows, investment and technology transfers between Sweden and Vietnam,” Mr. Ahlin said.

He is also planning to participate in a field visit to ABB’s transformer factory in BacNinh province and join a campaign to raise public awareness about traffic safety. Outside his official program, he would like to understand more about the Vietnamese culture by walking in the old quarter and trying Hanoi’s bun cha (vermicelli with grilled chopped meat).

Tran Cham