The new bilateral adoption treaty between Vietnam and Sweden, which was drafted last December, has now been signed in Hanoi.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister, Ms Laila Freivalds, attended the 4 February 2004 ceremony from the Swedish side.
“The treaty is in force from today. With this prospective parents and authorities have got a framework and clear regulations for adoptions from Vietnam to Sweden,” says Ms Freivalds to Scandasia.
The new treaty was necessary after a two year halt in foreign adoptions from Vietnam, while the country sharpened its adoption laws and the procedures involved in foreign adoptions.
Vietnam did that because several cases of misconduct, including purchases of children from poor parents were revealed by the authorities there in the late 1990’s.
Any foreign country which likes to let its citizens adopt children from Vietnam needs a bilateral treaty. Sweden is the fifth country to sign such a treaty.
