PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) and French President Emmanuel Macron in the Vietnamese leader's visit to France in 2021. (Photo: VNA)Paris (VNA) – Parliamentary diplomacy is an important linkin the cooperation between France and Vietnam, saidPresident of the France-VietnamFriendship Parliamentary Group (FVFPG) Anne Le Hénanff.
Ina recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent inFrance, Hénanff highlighted the fruitful developmentof the strategic partnership between Vietnam and France, saying that sinceupgrading their relationship to a strategic partnership in 2013, the twocountries have enjoyed flourishing relations.
The goal of the strategic partnership is to strengthen bilateral cooperationacross fields, especially in economics, culture, education, and defence, shestressed.
According to the parliamentarian, diplomaticrelations have been marked by the exchange of many high-level delegations, contributingto renewing the strategic partnership. The most recent significant event was Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit toFrance in November 2021. On this occasion, both sides issued a joint statement on further deepening the strategic partnership.
Regarding the issue of climate change, as one of the prioritiesmentioned in the joint statement, France has been committed to joining hands withVietnam to implement the Just Energy TransitionPartnership (JETP) signed between Vietnam and partners from the Group of Seven (G7).
This partnership will support Vietnam's ambitious goal of achieving carbonneutrality by 2050 and speeding up the transition from fossil fuels to cleanenergy, Hénanff said.
As part of this partnership, through the French Development Agency (AFD), France has committed to mobilising 500 million EUR(531.3 million USD) in 3 - 5 years to develop projects that expedite theecological transition.
Cooperation between the two countries inother areas such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure, has also witnessednotable results.
The potential for cooperation between Vietnam and France isimmense and built upon the foundation of long-standing relations, she said, affirming that there are many reasons tobe optimistic about bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The two governments have repeatedly demonstrated a strongpolitical will to promote bilateral cooperation. Vietnam and France have maintainedregular dialogue channels between relevant agencies in terms of economics,strategy, and defence. The bilateral relations are also based on the close ties betweenVietnamese and French localities, and decentralised cooperation forums, shesaid, noting that friendship parliamentary groups, including the FVFPG, play acentral role in the relation.
Hénanff underlined the need for the two countries to prioritise maintaininghigh-level exchanges and strengthening cooperation in the fight against climatechange, digital technology and security.
Cooperation in culture and teaching of the Frenchlanguage should be top priorities in the bilateral relationship because theycontribute to promoting mutual understanding and solidarity among nations, aswell as exchanges between the two countries, she added./.
