The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on September 20 inaugurated a website featuring the Vietnam-France relationship over the past four decades at the address www.viet-phap.vn.

The bilingual website has been set up under an agreement reached by the two Governments to mark the 40 th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties. It is the first official website on the relationship between Vietnam and another country, and will be maintained throughout 2014.

The Authority of Foreign Information Service under the MIC developed the website in partnership with the Vietnam Plus e-newspaper of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA). The state-owned news agency also runs a French version of Vietnam Plus at http://fr.vietnamplus.vn and the French-language magazine Le Courrier du Vietnam at http://www.lecourrier.vn .

At the ceremony, the website was officially connected with www.anneefrancevietnam.com which was launched by the French side under the Governmental agreement.

Also on this occasion, the Vietnam Post Corporation (VNPost) released a special Vietnam-France joint stamp set to mark the 150 th birth anniversary of A.Yersin, a famous French physician and bacteriologist (1863-1943).

Alexandrre Yersin came to Vietnam in 1891 and chose the central coastal city of Nha Trang for living and working until he passed away in March, 1943.

He was the founder and the first dean of Dong Duong pharmacy school, the predecessor of the present Hanoi Medical University and the Hanoi University of Pharmacy. He was also the founder and head of the Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang.

The stamp set was also released in France at the same time when it was made public in Vietnam.

Earlier, Vietnam and France issued the first joint stamp set in October, 2008 capturing the beauty of Bonifacio Bay and Ha Long Bay.-VNA