Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (L) and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Sweden have agreed to accelerate theestablishment of sectoral strategic partnerships in education-training, lifescience, health and environment.
Theconsensus was reached by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign MinisterPham Binh Minh and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström during their talks in Hanoi onNovember 23.
The two officials also consented to increase the exchange ofdelegations, especially high-level ones, while continuing close coordinationbetween Vietnam and Sweden at regional and international forums.
Minh proposed specific measures to step up bilateral cooperation in keyspheres including politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, education-training,science-technology, and national defence-security.
He called on Sweden to speed up the signing and ratification of the EU-VietnamFree Trade Agreement (EVFTA), to pour more investments in Vietnam, transfercutting-edge technologies to the country and share its management experience inareas of its strength.
Vietnam wants to learn from Sweden’s experience in promoting innovationand start-up, he said, urging the Swedish government to grant more scholarshipsto Vietnamese students and create the best possible conditions for them tostudy in the European country.
Minh also asked Sweden to share its experience in developing TripleHelix model, under which the government, training establishments andenterprises work together closely in human resource development, and to assist Vietnamin completing its legal system and judicial reform.
The DeputyPM took this occasion to thank Sweden for its material assistance and spiritualsupport to Vietnam during the past struggle for national liberation as well asthe current cause of national development.
Wallström praised Vietnam’s socio-economic developmentand international integration achievements, especially the country’s successfulhosting of the APEC Year 2017.
Sweden wants to further develop the traditional friendship andmultifaceted cooperation with Vietnam, she affirmed.
On this occasion, the two ministers discussed regional and internationalmatters of mutual concern, including the situation in the EU and theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the East Sea issue.
Sweden is Vietnam’s important economic partner in Northern Europe withannual two-way trade revenue exceeding 1.2 billion USD. In the first ninemonths of this year, the figure stood at more than 1 billion USD, up 16 percentyear-on-year.-VNA
