During a banquet, State President Nguyen Minh Triet told Swiss President Doris Leuthard about a Swiss friend, Alexandre Yersin, who conducted famous scientific research more than 100 years ago that brought huge benefits to the Vietnamese people. Alexandre Yersin made remarkable contributions to forming a modern medicine sector and training the first generation of doctors and nurses for Vietnam. His name has become popular among Vietnamese people. Many streets, squares and research centres bear his name. It is possible to say that Alexandre Yersin is a symbol of friendship between the two countries.

In Vietnam’s history, Switzerland has also secured a firm stance. In 1954, Geneva witnessed negotiations and the signing of an agreement on ending the war in Indochina and restoring peace in Vietnam. In the current period of Vietnam’s international economic integration, Geneva once again saw the moment when the country officially became the 150^th member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in November 2006. Switzerland is one of the first Western European countries that established diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1971 while the country was still in wartime.

President Triet affirmed that the Vietnamese people are grateful for Switzerland’s strong support and close friendship with Vietnam. “Switzerland has continued to cooperate and help Vietnam through official development assistance (ODA) and poverty reduction programmes that have proved effective over time,” he said.

Swiss President Doris Leuthard, 47, expressed good sentiments towards Vietnam. She told Mr Triet that she was interested in Vietnam’s initiatives in implementing economic reform, especially its efforts to overcome the negative impact caused by the recent global economic crisis. Vietnam has great potential to expand cooperation with Switzerland, she noted.

In May 2007, Doris Leuthard, then Minister of Economic Affairs of the Swiss Confederation, visited Vietnam to boost bilateral economic ties.

President Doris Leuthard affirmed that in Southeast Asia, Switzerland gave top priority to relations with Vietnam. Now her country is ready to assist Vietnam in its current process of industrialization which requires imports of much machinery.

The Vietnam-Switzerland economic ties have grown rapidly in recent years. In 2009, Switzerland was the second largest West European investor in Vietnam with two-way trade hitting US$2.6 billion. In this regard, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of more than $2 billion but Switzerland did not require Vietnam equalize the export-import balance between the two countries.

Jean Daniel Berber, director of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, said at the Vietnam-Switzerland business forum that about 90 Swiss businesses are operating in Vietnam, mainly in industry, agricultural product processing and services. As much as 80 percent of the Swiss investors’ pledged capital has been disbursed, which indicates that the Vietnamese investment climate is very good.

Mr Berber said Vietnam has weathered the global financial crisis better than many countries in the world, especially in Southeast Asia. Vietnam enjoyed sustainable economic growth in parallel to political stability. He said Vietnam has become increasing attractive to Swiss investors, offering them many opportunities in fields such as finance, banking, insurance, transport, and food processing.

Given the complicated happenings in the world, Switzerland still continued to provide development assistance worth 27 million Swiss francs to Vietnam for 2010.