Today, January 11, 2024, is the exact day of the 55th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Sweden (January 11th 1969 – January 11th 2024). On this occasion, Mr. Tran Van Tuan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the Kingdom of Sweden, gave an interview to the Vietnamese News Agency on a number of issues related to relations between the two countries.
In the interview, the Ambassador highlights among other things that Sweden was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with Viet Nam, and that Sweden continues to support Viet Nam in the current process of innovation, national construction, and international integration.
However, the investments between the two countries remains relatively low, cultural, educational and scientific exchanges activities have not taken place regularly, and the number of exchange students could also be higher, the ambassador says.
But these weaknesses can soon be overcome to bring bilateral relations to new heights, making practical contributions to socio-economic development and serving the interests of the people of the two countries, the Ambassador says.
Mr. Tran Van Tuan continues to list a wider range of areas, where there is a high potential for breakthrough developments, like combating climate change and protection of the environment, waste treatment, digital transformation, energy transformation, financial technologu, community healthcare, etc.
In the interview, the Ambassador mentions a range of activities that are planned to mark the anniversary throughout the year.
Read the full speech below, courtesy of The Embassy of Viet Nam in Sweden:
- How does the Ambassador evaluate the achievements of the cooperative relationship between Viet Nam and Sweden in the past 55 years? What are the strengths that need to be promoted? What are the weaknesses that need to be overcome?
Viet Nam and Sweden have a traditional friendship, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with a long history of 55 years. For more than half a century, the two countries have actively built, nurtured, and developed an increasingly sustainable and in-depth bilateral relationship and achieved proud achievements in many fields.
– Regarding politics, political trust and friendship for each other are valuable assets of the two countries. Sweden is the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with Viet Nam, and has given Viet Nam extremely valuable support and assistance, both spiritually and materially, in the struggle for national independence and unifying the country in the past, as well as in the current process of innovation, national construction, and international integration. Sweden always considers Viet Nam a good friend and an important partner in Southeast Asia, and believes that Viet Nam will continue to make positive contributions to promoting the central role of ASEAN as well as participating in resolve issues of the international community’s common concern.
– In terms of socio-economics, from 1967 to 2013, Sweden was the Nordic country that provides the largest non-refundable aid to Viet Nam, focusing on the fields of state institutions building, legislations, administrative reform, human resource development, healthcare, environment… A number of symbolic projects built by Sweden to help Viet Nam such as: Bai Bang Paper Factory, National Children’s Hospital, Uong Bi Hospital… have made an important contribution to the socio-economic development of Viet Nam. Since the end of 2013, the two countries’ relationship has shifted to a phase of equal and mutually beneficial partnership. Bilateral trade has made significant progress, total trade turnover in 2022 reached over 1.5 billion USD; in 2023, due to the difficult world economic situation, trade activities between the two countries were inevitably affected, however the total two-way import-export turnover in the first 11 months of the year still reached about 1.2 billion USD. Currently, Sweden is Viet Nam’s largest trading partner in Northern Europe, and Viet Nam is Sweden’s largest import partner in Southeast Asia.
– Regarding culture – education – science: Through the activities of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Sweden helped Viet Nam train many experts and engineers in the fields of forestry, paper, energy, biology, medicine, journalism… A number of universities and research institutes of the two countries have established close cooperation (such as between Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Viet Nam Maritime University… with Karolinska Institute, KTH Royal Institue of Technology, Lund University, World Maritime University of Sweden…). Cultural and artistic exchange activities (cinema, painting, ballet, literature…) between the two countries are also promoted.
However, Viet Nam – Sweden relations in some areas are still not really commensurate with the potential and traditional friendly relationship, specifically: investment activities of businesses from the two countries to each other are still low, as of June 2023, the total registered investment capital of Swedish enterprises in Viet Nam has only reached 680.49 million USD and Viet Nam does not have any large enterprises investing in Sweden; cultural – educational – scientific exchanges activities have not taken place regularly; the number of Vietnamese students studying in Sweden is still small… One of the main reason is that the geographical location of the two countries is quite far apart and the two sides do not have direct airways or searoutes connecting to each other yet.
However, on the basis of the long-standing friendship, trust, and traditional relationship between the two countries, along with the outstanding development of science and technology today, Viet Nam and Sweden can soon overcome the above weaknesses to bring bilateral relations to new heights, making practical contributions to socio-economic development and serving the interests of the people of the two countries.
- How does the Ambassador evaluate the potential for cooperation between the two countries in the coming time, both in bilateral relations as well as coordination in international issues at multilateral forums?
– In bilateral relations, the two sides have a lot of potential and room for cooperation in many fields, especially areas where one side has strengths and the other side has needs.
+ First of all, the two countries have great potential for cooperation in combating climate change and protecting the environment. This is the field in which Sweden has strengths and is a leading country in the world, while Viet Nam is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Viet Nam’s current and long-term development goals are aimed at proactively adapting to climate change and preventing, combating, and mitigating natural disasters; at the same time, managing and using natural resources economically, effectively and sustainably. Therefore, many Swedish businesses highly appreciate the Vietnamese government’s commitment to combating climate change and expressed their willingness to cooperate and support Viet Nam to realize sustainable development goals.
+ Secondly, the two countries have good potential for cooperation in the field of science and technology, especially in areas where Sweden has a lot of experience such as carbon capture technology and waste treatment, digital transformation, energy transformation, financial management, community healthcare…
+ Thirdly, the two countries also have potential for effective cooperation in labor, trade and investment. Viet Nam, with a population of more than 100 million people, a stable political regime and impressive economic growth rate, is truly an attractive market with great potential for Swedish businesses.
– Regarding coordination at multilateral forums: During a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the recent COP 28 Conference in the UAE, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson highly appreciated Viet Nam’s stance on the peaceful resolution of international disputes and conflicts, and believed that Viet Nam would continue to make positive contributions to promoting the role of ASEAN as well as participating in solving issues of common concern of the international community. I think, with the tradition of cooperation and political trust between the two countries over many years, Viet Nam and Sweden will continue to coordinate effectively in multilateral forums, especially in resolving global issues.
- This year, how will the two countries coordinate with each other to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations?
Right from mid-2023, the Vietnamese Embassy in Sweden had a plan to organize commemorative activities on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries with appropriate form, scale and time. In Sweden, we plan to organize a number of activities to promote Vietnamese culture – trade – tourism, promote the signing of a number of memorandums of cooperation between the two countries’ agencies, support and create favorable conditions for Swedish business delegations to explore the investment environment in Viet Nam as well as welcome Vietnamese delegations to visit Sweden in 2024. I believe that the Swedish Embassy in Viet Nam will also have many practical activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year.
- In the near future, what plans does the Ambassador have to promote bilateral relations to continue to develop? What will be the focus of Viet Nam – Sweden cooperation in the coming years?
In the coming time, the Embassy of Viet Nam in Sweden will focus on promoting cooperation between the two countries in the fields of politics – foreign affairs, trade – investment and science – technology. We will coordinate with relevant Swedish and Vietnamese agencies to create more favorable conditions for Swedish businesses to invest in Viet Nam, especially in the fields of green transformation and digital transformation, energy conversion, infrastructure construction, environmental protection…; support Swedish and Vietnamese businesses to increase import and export activities between the two countries, advocate for Sweden to open more doors for highly qualified Vietnamese workers (especially in the fields of information technology, education, health care, elderly care…).
To facilitate cooperation and trade between the two countries, we are actively promoting the establishment of direct airlines and searoutes connecting the two countries.
We will also further promote cultural diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy, and strengthen cooperation in education and training between the two countries, including promoting the authorities of both sides to provide more scholarships programs, student and teacher exchanges between the two countries.
In addition, the Vietnamese Embassy will continue to support Vietnamese people community to stabilize their lives in Sweden, maintain traditional culture, language, build a united and strong community and serve as a solid bridge for relations between the two countries.
To achieve breakthrough developments in bilateral relations in potential fields, it is necessary to have a suitable relationship framework for the two countries. The Embassy of Viet Nam in Sweden will actively coordinate with relevant agencies of both sides to research and advise to upgrade the cooperative relationship between the two countries to a new level, meeting the needs and interests of the people of the two countries, commensurate with the history of good traditional friendship between Viet Nam and Sweden over the past 55 years./.
The Embassy of Viet Nam in Sweden
