Plenty of room for Việt Nam, Sweden to promote ties: Ambassador

Vietnamese Ambassador to Sweden Trần Văn Tuấn (fourth, right) presents credentials to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. — VNA/VNS Photo

STOCKHOLM — There is plenty of room for Việt Nam and Sweden to boost cooperation in many areas, especially those of each other’s strength and demand, stated Vietnamese Ambassador to Sweden Trần Văn Tuấn.

Firstly, the two sides boast high collaboration potential in climate change and environmental protection, as Sweden is a world leader in the field and Việt Nam one of the countries hardest hit by climate change, the diplomat said in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Việt Nam-Sweden diplomatic relations (January 11, 1969-2024).

Secondly, science-technology is also a promising area for bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields where Sweden has a lot of experience such as carbon capture technology and waste treatment, digital transformation, energy transformation, financial management, and public health care, he said.

Thirdly, the two countries have high potential in labour, trade and investment partnership, held the ambassador, explaining that with a population of about 100 million, stable political situation and impressive growth rate, Việt Nam has been an attractive and promising market for Swedish businesses.

During a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on the sidelines of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the UAE, Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson highly valued Việt Nam’s stance on peaceful settlement of international disputes, and expressed his belief that the country will continue to make positive contributions to promoting ASEAN’s central role and dealing with common problems of the international community.

Tuấn said he believes that with high mutual political trust, Việt Nam and Sweden will continue to effectively coordinate at multilateral forums, especially in coping with global issues.

Highlighting achievements of the Việt Nam-Sweden cooperation over the past 55 years, Tuấn said that the two countries have enjoyed fruitful partnership in all fields.

Along with strong political trust and friendship, Sweden and Việt Nam have shared sound economic cooperation, he said, noting that Sweden was the biggest North European provider of non-refundable aid to Việt Nam in the 1967-2013 period. Since late 2013, the two sides switched their relations to win-win partnership.

Two-way trade hit US$1.5 billion in 2022, and $1.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2023 despite impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from Statistics Sweden (SCB) released in December 2023 showed that Sweden was Việt Nam’s largest trading partner in North Europe and Việt Nam Sweden’s largest import partner in Southeast Asia.

At the same time, Sweden helped Việt Nam train many experts and engineers in the fields of forestry, paper, energy, biology, medicine, and journalism in the past through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Meanwhile, cultural and art exchange activities between the two sides have also been fostered.

However, Ambassador Tuấn held that the partnership between Việt Nam and Sweden in some areas have been modest, noting that as of June 2023, Swedish firms had invested $680.49 million in Việt Nam.

The diplomat said that in the time to come, the Vietnamese Embassy in Sweden will focus on conducting activities to foster bilateral cooperation in politics, diplomacy, trade, investment, and science and technology.

On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, the embassy will organise some activities to promote Việt Nam’s culture, trade and tourism in Sweden, while assisting the signing of cooperation agreements between agencies of the two countries and providing favourable conditions for the businesses of the two sides to explore each other’s market.

Along with assisting Vietnamese and Swedish firms to strengthen import-export activities between the two countries, the embassy will advocate for Sweden to open its door for highly qualified Vietnamese workers to work in the European country, especially in the fields of information technology, education, health care, and elderly care.

The embassy is working to hasten the opening of a direct air route and a direct maritime route between the two countries, the diplomat said, adding that it will strengthen cultural diplomacy, people diplomacy and education-training cooperation between the two countries. — VNS