Would you brief our readers on the significance of August 1 to your nation and how it came about?

The Swiss national day is just over a century old, and it was only in 1993 that the hardworking Swiss agreed that we could all take the day off. The event the day commemorates took place 700 years ago, and at the heart of celebrations is a custom which goes back into the mists of time.

The day was chosen because August 1, 1291 was the date when three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation, an act which later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland or the ‘Swiss Confederation’. On that day, representatives of three founding cantons swore a bond of brotherhood, and agreed to act jointly if their freedoms were threatened by outside aggressors.

Today, for most people August 1 means also fireworks and bonfires. For us Swiss, bonfires have an extra significance. For centuries we have built beacons on mountain tops which we lit when danger approached. For example, one legend told of both Lake Geneva and Lake Biel relates how hordes of invading barbarians, who intended to conquer the ancient Swiss tribes, turned back when they saw the lights reflected on the lake waters, thinking they had come to the edge of the earth and were about to ride off into the sky.

Whether in remembrance of this event, or just because it’s fun, every Swiss commune now lights its own bonfire and sets off fireworks, and children parade through the streets with paper lanterns, often decorated with the Swiss cross or the symbols of the cantons, and people light candles in their windows.

Recently, the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation announced its foreign aid programme for the 2009-2002 period. Vietnam is among 12 countries that will continue to receive financial aid from your country. Are there any requirements on the way it must be spent?

Swiss development policies are built on the principles of humanity, solidarity and fairness, as well as a desire for peace and a sustainable future. The overriding aim of development co-operation is to help people help themselves. By sharing expertise, by investing in education and training, by building institutions, by providing funding and rendering services, development co-operation supports partner countries so that they can solve their own problems using creative approaches. Swiss foreign policy is governed by the principle of universality, which means that no countries are excluded in principle. However, priorities are set in order to optimise the impact of development co-operation.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) has supported Vietnam’s transition since 1992 within the framework of its Mekong Region Programme and in Switzerland’s foreign aid programme for 2009-2012, Vietnam is a priority country.

During the period of 2007-2011, SDC, in line with its Mekong Region Strategy and the Government of Vietnam’s policies, has continued to focus on three thematic areas: governance, rural livelihood along with natural resource management, and economic development, with a special focus on private sector development. In the long term, SDC is considering to concentrate on emerging issues facing Vietnam including food security, climate change, and rural poverty.

In which other areas are Switzerland and Vietnam co-operating?

We are also closely co-operating in the field of human rights. Last March, Switzerland and Vietnam met for the sixth time in the framework of our dialogue on human rights and international organisations. The dialogue offers the opportunity to exchange information on the most recent developments in the human rights situations of both countries, to discuss possible areas for technical co-operation and focus on issues such as women’s rights, minority rights, criminal law and prison administration. I’m quite pleased to see that our human rights dialogue has even helped to strengthen our bilateral relations.

In 2007, Swiss business people invested more than US$744 million in 42 projects in Vietnam. Do you or your business advisors foresee any increase in these figures in the coming years?

I am very happy that Swiss companies are increasingly active in Vietnam, be it for investing or trading. The Swiss business community in Vietnam is active in nearly all sectors and I am especially pleased to see more and more investment in sectors with higher added-value. In general I am positive that our business relations will continue to grow strongly.

For the moment Vietnamese and foreign companies feel the economic slowdown, the pressure on wages due to high inflation, difficulties to access foreign currencies and so on. The business community is expecting the Government to take the right steps to stabilise the economy and to ensure that the business environment remains sound. Their most important message is that the Government continues to implement its obligations following the WTO-accession as foreseen in the schedule. Following the steps taken by the Government, the companies will further strengthen their presence in Vietnam.

Last year, nearly 22,000 Swiss nationals travelled to Vietnam, up 12.7 per cent over 2006. However, we must admit that the number of Vietnamese tourists to Switzerland is much lower, not only because few can afford trips overseas, but also because few Vietnamese know about your country. Does your office have any suggestions about how we could further promote understanding between Switzerland and Vietnamese people?

In fact, starting from very low numbers of Vietnamese people travelling to Switzerland, the increase is impressive, almost a quarter more visitors in 2007 than in 2006 and this trend seems to be confirmed for 2008.

I hope that the first visit of the President of the Swiss Confederation to Vietnam starting this Sunday will spread more information on my country to the Vietnamese public with the support of Vietnamese media.

More concretely, on the occasion of the presidential visit, two agreements between Swiss and Vietnamese universities will be signed, paving the way to increased co-operation and exchanges between Switzerland and Vietnam. I am confident that other co-operation agreements of this type will be signed.