occasion of
National Day today the Vietnam News interviewed ambassador to Vietnam Rolf
Bergman.
e-government. How do you think
can help
in this area?
that
is a leading force in e-government. E-government is all about improving
services for citizens, a way to improve democratic governance. The goal is to
simplify and improve these services to citizens and businesses and to make it
easier for them to get information and be in dialogue with authorities to claim
their rights and know their responsibilities”.
“Ideally,
citizens should not even have to know which part of the administration they are
talking to when for instance electronically turning in applications or tax
returns. Applications and database systems allow different public systems to
cooperate and can make the flow of information in the government effective”.
“Responsible
agencies in
are constantly developing and evaluating the work done within the area of
e-government and are thereby in a good position to share experiences made with
other countries. It is my hope that, as the public service and administration
in
will look to
for inspiration and experience”.
co-operation between the two countries during the last year?
very exciting times in
The country is on the verge of becoming a middle-income country and has in a
remarkably short time entered the global economy. As a country that has had
close relations with
for 40 years, we congratulate all Vietnamese on these achievements and look
forward to continue our various partnerships in the future”.
develops further, trade relations become increasingly important, as do tourism
and cultural exchange. It is with great joy that we will welcome deputy prime
minister Nguyen Sinh Hung and an accompanying business delegation to
a visit that focuses on business opportunities, trade and investment.
question that interest in
as a trading and investment partner is growing, in spite of recent difficulties
in the economy.
has a large and young population, looking ahead and wanting to improve their
living conditions”.
happy to see that Swedish products and knowledge continue to contribute to the
development of
that we see continuous growth in Vietnamese products exported to
In relation to its size,
has an unusually large number of large multinational companies, most of which
are present here in
satisfying to see these companies grow at such a fast pace. But in the last
year, we have seen new and smaller companies coming to
variety of sectors. All indications show that this trend will continue, not
least because of the increased interest in
interest in Vietnamese food and culture is growing in
tourists come here. All of this also creates interest in doing business here.
are positive and I am convinced that we have only begun to tap the potential
for companies in both
and
to find business opportunities. We can look forward to very interesting and
exciting times ahead”.
30 Vietnamese and Swedish universities and R&D institutions have been
involved in the
and Vietnam Research programme, which started 30 years ago and will end in
2011. How do you think Vietnamese and Swedish institutions benefit from the programme?
research co-operation between our countries has changed over the past 30 years.
It started with a focus on the urgent needs of
the more systematic development of research capacity— creating fertile research
environments, providing research education and developing methods to set
priorities and allocate funds for research”.
purpose of the final phase ending in 2011 is to support PhD and Master’s
students in obtaining degrees as a means of contributing to the sustainability
of research environments. By 2007, a total of 42 PhD and 99 Master’s candidates
successfully defended their dissertations in
will complete their studies by 2011. The co-operation also supports Vietnamese
institutions carrying out PhD and Master’s training in
33 Masters’ and 38 PhD degrees were awarded by the end of 2007″.
from the second half of the 1980s to the present,
has remained a relatively small contributor to the overall funding of research
and development (R&D) in
Government has contributed 280 million SEK (US$35 million) of which a large
amount was disbursed after 1990s for research capacity building combined with
training of PhD, Master students, researchers and technicians.
may be noted that the impact of Swedish co-operation in some priority areas of
research, such as agriculture/husbandry, forestry and health – has been
significant and much larger than the actual level of funding.
research co-operation has been of great value to both our countries and the
institutions involved. As
and
enter a new stage in their partnership, I think that the solid friendship and
bonds of our researchers and the mutual benefits for both parties will form a
foundation for even more rewarding research co-operation between our countries
in the future”.
a project to give journalists additional training. During the past seven years,
about 10 per cent of
journalists have received this training either in
or in
What is your evaluation of the programme results? How would you evaluate the
Vietnamese media in recent years?
the media sector in
is one of the priorities of Swedish development co-operation. Media is crucial
for further development towards democratic governance in
enter long term bilateral co-operation in this sector.
area since the early 90s.
co-operation started with support for provincial radio stations in
the co-operation includes all kinds of media: radio, television, newspaper and
Internet.
here develops, there will be a greater demand by the public for openness of
information, the right to have their voices heard. Information is power, and
the more people who possess it, the more power is devolved”.