Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the ceremony. (Source: VNA)Paris (VNA) – General Secretary of the CommunistParty of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and French NationalAssembly (NA) President Francois de Rugy attended a ceremony to mark the 45thanniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and France at the NA’sheadquarters in Paris on March 26 afternoon (local time).
Addressing the event, NA President de Rugy said Vietnam andFrance set up diplomatic ties on April 13, 1973, opening up a new page in the bilateralrelationship. In the following years, France overcame difficulties to accompanyVietnam during the country’s struggle for national liberation and nationalreunification.
The legislator affirmed that Vietnam is France’s importantpartner in Southeast Asia which is developing dynamically.
In 2013, the two countries signed a strategic partnershipand cooperated in various realms, from politics to economics, culture,education, science, the parliamentary channel, military and strategy.
The French leader described Vietnam as a pillar of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with high growth, adding thatthe country’s GDP increased 15 times over the past 30 years.
He highlighted the increasing presence of French businessesin Vietnam, as well as the number of up to about 7,000 Vietnamese students inFrance.
Besides, Vietnam and France have joined hands in coping withglobal challenges such as climate change in the Mekong and Red River Deltas,the leader said.
In his remarks, Party General Secretary Trong emphasisedthat since the two countries established diplomatic ties 45 years ago, Francehas remained Vietnam’s leading partner in Europe and the world at large.
The Vietnam-France relationship is always among the prioritiesof Vietnam’s foreign policy, he stated.
Trong stressed diverse cooperation between Vietnam andFrance, both bilaterally and multilaterally, allowing the two countries to consulteach other and share their viewpoints on many regional and internationalissues.
He also noted the diverse exchange of culture between thetwo countries over the past time.
France is not only Vietnam’s leading European sponsor butalso its cooperation partner in various spheres, the Party chief said, addingthat priorities have been given to bilateral collaboration in education andscientific research.
He cited hundreds of agreements signed between Vietnameseand French universities and research institutes.
Cooperation between the two countries’ localities has alsobeen expanded with the participation of 20 French localities and 15 cities andprovinces of Vietnam.
Vietnam and France established a strategic partnership fiveyears ago, demonstrating their mutual political trust, he said, underliningenhanced bilateral coordination in regional and international issues.
Party General Secretary Trong called on the two countries toscale up efforts in order to deepen the strategic partnership, increase theirpolitical trust and high-level exchanges and meetings, improve the efficiencyof dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, step up affiliation in all fields,expand people-to-people exchange, enhance cooperation between localities andintensify coordination in regional and international issues of shared concern.
The two leaders then witnessed the signing of sixcooperation documents, comprising a letter of intention on universe technologybetween Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and France’s AirbusDefence and Space, a cooperation programme in 2018 between Vietnam’s JusticeMinistry and the Supreme Council of Notary of France , a the agreement onresearch and planning of maritime natural resources between Vietnam’s Academyof Science and Technology and the FrenchResearch Institute for Development.
The others are a memorandum of understanding on cooperationin intellectual property between Vietnam’s Intellectual Property Department andFrance’s National Industrial Property Institute, an agreement between VietnamAirlines and Air France and Air France Industry KLM Engineering and Maintenanceof France, and anther MoU on purchasing 24 aircraft between Bamboo Airline, FLCof Vietnam and France’s Airbus.-VNA
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