A programme to celebrate the 45 th anniversary of Vietnam-Sweden diplomatic ties opened in Hanoi on January 21.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam CamillaMellander affirmed that Vietnam and Sweden are reliable partners inpolitics, economics, culture and education, bringing benefits to bothnations.

The two countries have identifiedeconomics and trade as the focus of their bilateral relations, withpriorities having been given to the health service, clean technology,information technology and transport, the diplomat said.

She added Sweden considers Vietnam, an ASEAN-EU coordinator, one of its important partners in ASEAN.

Two-way trade between the two countries exceeded one billion USD in2013, she said, adding that over 60 Swedish companies have set uprepresentative offices in Vietnam.

Le Linh Lan,Deputy Director of the European Department under the Ministry of ForeignAffairs, said Sweden is the first Western country to provide andmaintain official development assistance to Vietnam since 1967. TheSwedish government has so far supplied 3.4 billion USD in non-refundableaid to the Southeast Asian country, she added.

Tomark the two countries’ diplomatic ties this year, the Swedish Embassyplans to organise at least one event every month. Meanwhile, theVietnamese Embassy in Sweden is preparing for activities introducingVietnam to the European country.-VNA