Vietnam welcomes Swedish investment: PM

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (centre) visits pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca during his trip to the northern European country. (Photo: VNA)

He made the statement while visiting AstraZeneca as part of the activities of his official visit to the northern European country, during which PM Phuc expressed his delight at the steady growth of the bilateral corporation and Sweden’s contributions to the development of Vietnam.

AstraZeneca Chairman Leif Johansson said that it is his company’s honour to contribute to the Vietnam-Sweden relations, stressing AstraZeneca would never be successful in Vietnam without support from Vietnamese Government, competent ministries and sectors.

On the occasion, Johansson announced a 5 trillion VND (220 million USD) investment in Vietnam, aiming to improve the health care for local people.

PM Phuc said that as Vietnam is developing its public health strategy, the country needs assistance from international partners, including AstraZeneca. He described the Swedish firm’s plan as a move to boost the collaborative ties in a more practical and effective manner.

According to Swedish Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation Ibrahim Baylan, Swedish firms see Vietnam have huge potential in various sectors. Particularly, through pharmaceutical cooperation, Swedish companies will help better the health care for the Vietnamese people. 

AstraZeneca opened its representative office in Vietnam in 1994. The corporation has been accompanying the Vietnamese Government in the national strategy on prevention of non-communicable diseases during 2015-2025, and the Vietnam healthcare programme. It has invested tens of millions of USD in R&D activities in the country as well as helped Vietnamese patients access advanced healthcare measures to cure cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, among others.