Switzerland offers Vietnam nearly US$80 million for business climate improvement

The Swiss Government will provide CHF70 million (nearly US$80 million) to help Vietnam improve its business climate and boost its private sector’s competitiveness, according to a cooperation programme between the two countries for 2021-2024, which was announced at a virtual ceremony on August 6.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and visiting Swiss Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis. In the past year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment worked with the Swiss Cooperation Office in Vietnam (SECO) to build the programme.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung (R) and visiting Swiss Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis.

At the event, Dung and Cassis agreed upon a number of key principles for cooperation including associating economic development with environmental protection and other social matters, building a healthy financial management capacity, and planning urban areas that are friendly to businesses and people, among others.

The sides also agreed to mobilise Swiss resources serving a project on supporting businesses step up digital transformation in the bilateral or trilateral forms.

They said they will promote trade and investment cooperation activities, attracting more top Swiss firms to invest in Vietnam, particularly in sectors with high proportion of technology. As a result, related training and technological transfer will take place and an innovation ecosystem will be formed to turn Vietnam into a developing nation with a modern industry and an upper middle income in 2030.

Switzerland has offered official development assistance (ODA), mostly non-refundable aid, to Vietnam since 1992. As of 2020, Switzerland’s fund for Vietnam amounted to nearly CHF500 million, helping the country to eliminate poverty.

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Source: NDO/VNA