Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with Swedish Prime Minister

At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to strengthen the traditional friendship with Sweden, one of Vietnam's priority partners in Europe. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that the two sides promote delegation exchanges at all levels, especially at high levels, especially in 2024 when the two countries celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations, creating a foundation to consolidate and further deepen bilateral cooperation, share information and experience in national development.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the two countries still have a lot of potential and room for cooperation that needs to be promoted to complement each other. Therefore, the Prime Minister said that the two countries need to further promote cooperation in all areas, especially economics, trade, investment, digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, education and training, and expanding tourist visas to facilitate people-to-people exchanges. The Prime Minister also hopes that Sweden will share its successful experiences with Vietnam in the fields of cultural development, human resources, and social security.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson positively acknowledged Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s proposals and wished to visit Vietnam soon to comprehensively promote cooperation. He affirmed that Sweden will strive to promote in-depth cooperation with Vietnam in all potential areas and suggested that the authorities of the two countries soon discuss and agree to open direct flights to Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden, to promote tourism and people-to-people exchange.

The Swedish Prime Minister highly appreciated Vietnam's stance on peacefully resolving international disputes and conflicts on the basis of the United Nations Charter and international law, not using force or threatening to use force, ending all actions that cause casualties to civilians, ensuring security, safety, and freedom of international navigation and aviation. The Swedish Prime Minister believed that Vietnam would continue to make positive contributions to maintaining ASEAN's central role as well as participating in resolving issues of common concern to the international community.

On this occasion, the two sides also agreed to continue to strengthen close cooperation at multilateral forums, serving as a bridge between ASEAN and the European Union (EU). At the same time, the two leaders discussed many international and regional issues, including the East Sea issue.