On May 12, at the headquarters of the Government Office, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Benjamin Dousa - Minister of International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening the traditional friendship and cooperation in many good aspects with Sweden.
The Prime Minister repeated the deep memories in the relationship between Vietnam and Sweden; Especially the affection of the Swedish people was shown through the movie "Victoria Vietnam", which was awarded by Sweden on the occasion of Vietnam to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country.
The Prime Minister affirmed that the State and people of Vietnam always remember, appreciate and are grateful for Sweden's valuable, pure and sincere support and assistance to Vietnam in the past struggle for independence and reunification, as well as in the current international construction, development and integration process.
The Prime Minister suggested that the two sides increase delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels, especially at high levels, to create momentum to promote cooperation in the coming time, especially in the fields of trade - investment, green transformation, digital transformation, strategic infrastructure such as railways, airports, seaports, environmental protection, climate change response, healthcare, education, science - technology, etc.
The Prime Minister agreed to cooperate between the two sides, facilitating each side's goods to penetrate each other's markets, especially agricultural products; affirmed that Vietnam is ready to act as a gateway for Swedish goods to enter ASEAN and proposed that Sweden be a gateway for Vietnamese goods to enter the Nordic market, in order to achieve the common goal of sustainable development.
The Prime Minister welcomed Swedish enterprises to increase investment in Vietnam in areas where Sweden has strengths and is in line with Vietnam's development orientation such as the digital economy, infrastructure, information and communications technology, etc.
The Prime Minister assessed that the two countries have many similarities in development perspective, especially in social security policies, reducing rich and poor gaps, taking people as the center, goal and driving force for development, leaving no one behind; Vietnam is referring to Sweden's experience in policies on building housing for workers, developing cultural industries, and hoping to promote exchanges between the younger generations between the two countries.
Minister Benjamin Dousa expressed his impression of Vietnam's rapid and strong socio-economic development; affirmed that Sweden is a trustworthy and substantial partner of Vietnam, the Swedish people always love Vietnam.
Minister Benjamin Dousa said that one of the motivations for his visit to Vietnam this time is that in Sweden as well as in the world, everyone mentions Vietnam with sympathy.
The Minister thanked the Prime Minister for his attention and support for the bilateral relationship; emphasized that Sweden wishes to promote cooperation with Vietnam in all fields, many Swedish enterprises are interested in and eager to cooperate with Vietnam and have a long-term investment strategy in Vietnam.
The Minister also agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's assessment that the two sides still have much room for cooperation and need to coordinate to promote the development of bilateral relations to new heights.
The Minister promised to discuss so that the remaining EU member states can soon ratify the EVIPA Agreement as well as with the European Commission (EC) on the proposal to remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnam's seafood exports.
