Davos (VNA) – Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with Swisಌs President Karin Keller-Sutter in Davos on January 21 afternoon (local time), within the framework of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Worl🐓d Economic Forum (WEF) and his bilateral activities in Switzerland.

Congratulating Karin Keller-Sutter on taking office as President of Switzerland, PM Chinh expressed his belief that she will have a successful term, contributing to the enhancement and elevation of the relationship between the two countries. Delighted at returning to Switzerland to attend the WEF Davos meeting, he emphasised that Vietnam always treasures its friendship and multifaceted cooperation with the European country. For her part, Keller-Sutter stressed that the Swiss Government regards Vietnam as an important partner in the region and wishes to lift bilateral relations to a new height, with political trust and comprehensive and effective cooperation enhanced across various fields. The two leaders highlighted the positive advancements in Vietnam-Switzerland relations in recent years, particularly in politics - diplomacy, trade - investment, development cooperation, science - technology, and education - training. Building on the strong foundation of their enduring friendship and shared vision, they agreed that now is the ideal time to elevate their countries' relations to a Comprehensive Partnership, with shared principles and broad directions, aiming to create breakthroughs to deepen bilateral ties in a more comprehensive and substantive manner, and foster cooperation at both regional and global scales. The Swiss President affirmed that the talks with the Vietnamese PM and the agreement to elevate bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Partnership hold significant importance, helping foster a stronger and more effective bilateral relationship in the coming time. She urged the two sides to work closely to concretise the Comprehensive Partnership. The two leaders lauded the prospects for bilateral economic cooperation, agreeing to strive for an increase in two-way trade in the coming period. They gave high priority to the early conclusion of negotiations on a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the resumption of negotiations on the bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement, in order to facilitate economic exchanges and encourage long-term investments by businesses in both countries. PM Chinh appreciated Switzerland's plan to continue supporting Vietnam in the field of development cooperation for the 2025-2028 period. The Swiss President welcomed PM Chinh's proposal and expressed Switzerland's readiness to expand cooperation with Vietnam in new areas that match the needs and strengths of the two sides such as innovation, digital transformation, high technology, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, climate change response, carbon credit trading, experience sharing, and support for the establishment of an international financial centre in Ho Chi Minh City. The two leaders highlighted the importance of security and defence cooperation, including promoting collaboration in the defence industry, training, capacity building, participation in peacekeeping forces, and research, negotiation, and signing of defence and security cooperation agreements. The Vietnamese leader suggested that both sides further enhance ties in the fields of education -training, science -technology, and culture -tourism, especially in building a high-quality education system, reinforcing links between training establishments, research institutes, and universities of the two countries, and working together in sustainable tourism and tourism human resources development. President Keller-Sutter thanked Vietnam for granting short-term visa exemption for Swiss citizens, thereby helping to facilitate people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding between the two countries. She also spoke highly of the integration and positive contributions by the Vietnamese community in Switzerland to local socio-economic development, as well as their role as a bridge for promoting bilateral cooperation. Discussing some international and regional issues, the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in the face of global challenges and to enhance coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations and within the framework of the ASEAN-Switzerland sectoral dialogue partnership. During the talks, PM Chinh and Swiss President Keller-Sutter witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries’ ministries of foreign affairs. On this occasion, PM Chinh conveyed State President Luong Cuong's invitation to President Keller-Sutter to visit Vietnam. The Swiss leader accepted the invitation with pleasure./.