Initial contacts between Switzerland and Vietnam date back to the end of the 19th century, when Swiss companies established trading posts in what was then French Indochina. It was Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943), a Swiss/French national, who introduced the rubber tree and the malaria remedy quinine in Indochina at the turn of the 19th century. Switzerland opened a consulate in Saigon in 1926. At the beginning of the war in Indochina (1946-1954) there were some 150 Swiss nationals living in what is now Vietnam.

The war in Indochina came to an end in 1954. The peace negotiations were held in Geneva. Until the outbreak of the Vietnam war Switzerland initially maintained relations with the non-communist South, opening a Consulate General in Saigon in 1958. During the war Switzerland provided both South and North Vietnam with humanitarian aid. On 11 October 1971 – before the end of the war – Switzerland established diplomatic relations with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Switzerland was one of the first western countries to do so.

In 1986 the Vietnamese government initiated important economic reforms with its policy of renewal (doi moi). These led to development on a remarkable scale. Today Vietnam is an important partner to Switzerland in south-east Asia, as numerous official visits attest. The first visit of a Swiss President to Vietnam took place in August 2008. Since the beginning of the 1990s Vietnam has been one of the key recipient countries of Swiss development aid delivered under the “Mekong” regional programme. This program is jointly managed by the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) as well as the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC). The current program runs from 2008-2012. In addition Switzerland has been conducting a human-rights dialogue with the Vietnamese government since 1997.