Business opportunities abundant for Swiss firms in Vietnam: seminar

Switzerland is the sixth largest European investor of Vietnam. Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Business, trade and investment opportunities in Vietnam were introduced to businesses of Geneva and French-speaking states of Switzerland during a seminar in Geneva on July 20.

Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, the World Trade Organisation, and other international organisations in Geneva, briefed participants on the business environment in Vietnam as well as the highlights in the economic partnership between Vietnam and Switzerland.

She underlined key contents of Vietnam’s socio-economic development strategy, especially the Government’s efforts in promoting digital transformation, innovation, and supporting start-ups, along with measures to improve the local business and investment environment to draw more investors.

Along with a sound political relationship, Vietnam and Switzerland have enjoyed remarkable progress in their bilateral economic partnership over the years with Switzerland becoming the sixth largest European investor of Vietnam and the 19th biggest foreign investor in the country, she noted, adding that more than 100 Swiss businesses are operating in Vietnam.

The ambassador also said that the bilateral ties in trade, investment, development cooperation, humanitarian aid and people-to-people contacts have been expanded.

She held that the two sides boast high potential to further promote bilateral partnership, especially when Vietnam is switching to a green and sustainable growth model based on high technologies.

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Geneva, Founder and President of Swiss-Vietnamese Business Gateway (SVBG) Nguyen Thi Thuc said that the nearly-100-million-strong market of Vietnam with increasing consumption power is a promising land for Swiss firms. She said activities like business seminars and dialogue, and trips for Swiss investors to Vietnam are very necessary to increase Swiss investment in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Felix Urech – CEO of Enriching company held that along with efforts of foreign investors and businesses, the support of local administrations in Vietnam is crucial in ensuring their smooth operations.

At the same time, Pierre Schifferli, a Swiss lawyer said that Vietnam has made efforts to complete its legal system in all socio-economic areas. He noted that the country has gained great achievements in international integration with the signing of many free trade agreements (FTA), including the EU-Vietnam FTA and Vietnam-UK FTA. Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which comprises Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, are also negotiating for a FTA, he added.

Participants agreed on the great potential for the collaboration between Vietnam and Switzerland, especially in banking sector.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Embassy of Switzerland has recently signed a bilateral agreement for a new Swiss Bank Executive Training programme (Swiss BET) to help build the capacity of Vietnamese bank executives.

The programme, which will run from 2022 to 2027, will provide a grant of five million Swiss francs (about 5.4 million USD) for the training, which will be implemented by the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI). The SFI will train more than 240 Vietnamese bank executives and hundreds of central bankers on the latest state-of-the-art banking management practices./.