Prime Ministers Nguyen Xuan Phuc (third, left) and Stefan Löfven (third, right) witness the exchange of cooperation documents at the Vietnam-Sweden business forum in Stockholm on May 27 (Photo: VNA)

PM Phuc said Vietnam hopes that Swedish investors and businesses will cooperate with and invest in the Southeast Asian nation Vietnam. Vietnam advocates institutional reform and economic restructuring, while also promoting the private sector and deep international integration. He highlighted the history of bilateral relations, saying that it propelled the two-way trade revenue to more than 1.5 billion USD.

Sweden ranks 34th among the 130 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 34 projects worth over 350 million USD and numerous multinational groups are operating in Vietnam like ABB, Ericsson, Volvo, and Electrolux.

Mr. Phuc said they had a successful talks, which has turned a new page for the two countries' relations: “Vietnam considers Sweden its most important partner in its external policies. In return Sweden also sees Vietnam as its major partner in Southeast Asia. Bilateral cooperation will help Vietnamese products enter the EU distribution networks and Swedish businesses access the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Businesses are major entities in bilateral cooperation. Mutual trust can open new cooperative channels in the 4.0 industrial revolution.”

Swedish PM Stefan Löfven expressed his wish that the EU will sign the EVFTA with Vietnam soon, thereby promoting the competitiveness of both countries. Sweden is ready to cooperate with Vietnam, he said, affirming that the government, people and businesses of Sweden want to further tighten relations with Vietnam.