Vietnam and Switzerland boost sci-tech cooperation

Vu Hai Quan, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology on March 16 had a gathering with Helene Budliger Artieda, State Secretary for Economic Affairs of Switzerland, in Hanoi to debate strengthening bilateral ties.

He said that the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) tasked with growing science and know-how, innovation, and digital transformation as vital drivers of financial progress.

The ministry is specializing in perfecting the institutional framework to advertise these fields. Specifically in 2025, it submitted 10 legal guidelines to the National Assembly for approval, together with the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation; the Law on High Technology; and the Law on Digital Transformation.

Photo: MST

“During the implementation of the aforementioned laws, several challenges remain, such as limitations in technological infrastructure, a shortage of high-quality human resources, and difficulties in governance and administration,” he said. “Vietnam hopes to strengthen cooperation with Switzerland, a country with a developed sci-tech sector and many leading universities in Europe, to share experiences and encourage cooperation programmes in the future.”

Artieda emphasised that Vietnam was an vital companion, appreciating Vietnam’s main function in ASEAN in addition to its function because the chairman of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Council for the previous 12 months. The signing of the EFTA settlement will open alternatives for high-quality Swiss companies to put money into Vietnam, contributing to job creation, encouraging know-how switch, and supporting Vietnam in attaining its modernisation targets inside the subsequent 5 years.

She mentioned that the Swiss authorities maintained shut ties with the non-public sector and enterprise neighborhood within the improvement of science, know-how, and innovation. Switzerland prioritises funding in fundamental analysis from public funds, whereas additionally making a beneficial atmosphere for analysis and innovation to thrive, notably within the fields of automation and AI.

She additionally shared her nation’s versatile training mannequin, by which roughly two-thirds of highschool graduates select vocational coaching earlier than persevering with their training at college. This mannequin contributes to the sturdy progress of small and medium-sized enterprises, an important power in Switzerland’s innovation ecosystem.

She emphasised that mental property is among the vital pillars within the improvement of a knowledge-based economic system. Swiss companies are able to share their expertise, information, and experience with Vietnamese companies, and expressed their hope that Vietnam will proceed to concentrate to encouraging the negotiation strategy of the EFTA settlement.

At the assembly, the Intellectual Property Office supplied data on the progress of negotiations relating to mental property rights within the settlement. Accordingly, the free commerce settlement between Vietnam and EFTA was initiated in 2012 and has since undergone 19 official rounds of negotiations, together with a number of on-line interim periods.

The 20^th spherical of negotiations is scheduled to be held in Hanoi on the finish of April 2026, aiming to conclude the negotiations and signal the settlement on the EFTA Ministerial Conference in June 2026 in Iceland.

The chapter on mental property stays one of many areas requiring additional dialogue, primarily regarding high-level dedication necessities from EFTA, reminiscent of mechanisms for patent compensation attributable to delays in pharmaceutical advertising and marketing authorisation procedures; safety of pharmaceutical and agrochemical take a look at information; and mechanisms for direct safety of geographical indications via the checklist hooked up to the settlement.

Both sides declared the vital function of sci-tech, innovation, and digital transformation in socioeconomic improvement, and expressed their want to proceed encouraging cooperation in these areas. They additionally agreed to coordinate intently to beat current difficulties and to speed up the negotiation course of, aiming to finalise the EFTA settlement within the close to future, bringing tangible advantages to either side.

Vietnam, Switzerland look to expand trade, investment cooperation As many as 150 financial specialists, and representatives from ministries, sectors, and localities, monetary funding funds and companies of Switzerland and Vietnam gathered collectively at a seminar on Vietnam – Switzerland cooperation in commerce, funding and know-how in Zurich on September 8.

Switzerland sends experts and over $1 million to aid Vietnam’s typhoon relief efforts The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is deploying six specialists from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit to Vietnam and allocating $1.17 million to help individuals affected by Typhoon Yagi.

Vietnam and Switzerland conclude SwissTrade Vietnam and Switzerland have wrapped up the SwissTrade programme, underscoring its function in strengthening commerce coverage reform and export competitiveness.