Yen Bai, France’s Val-de-Marne celebrate 20 years of cooperation

Yen Bai (VNA) – A high-ranking delegation of the French department of Val-de-Marne has engaged in different activities in Yen Bai province on the occasion of the 20th founding anniversary of their friendship and cooperative relations.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai decided to plant 20 “lat hoa” trees (Chukrasia tabularis), a rare species of Vietnam, on Au Co street in Yen Bai city.

Officials of Val-de-Marne and Yen Bai also took part in a ceremony to name a rose species after the Vietnamese province. This species was selected from the 600 most beautiful rose trees in Val-de-Marne, and then multiplied and presented to Yen Bai as a gift from the French department.

At a working session on October 31, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Thi Thanh Tra said the tree planting and rose naming mark a new stage of the two sides’ relationship. She described the French roses grown besides Vietnamese flowers as a garden of friendship.

Christian Favier, Senator and President of the General Council of Val - de - Marne, highlighted the two sides’ sound amity and cooperation, adding that his locality will enhance cooperation activities and projects with Yen Bai in the time to come.

Earlier, the French delegation visited a community-based tourism model in Nghia Lo township, tea processing and business activities in Suoi Giang commune of Van Chan district, and water supply and waste treatment facilities in An Thinh commune.

Since 2014, Yen Bai and Val-de-Marne have cooperated in preventive medicine, tourism, waste water treatment, and rural development. About 9.27 billion VND (415,300 USD) was disbursed for six of the seven joint projects as of June 2016.-VNA