French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery. (Photo courtesy of the Embassy of France in Vietnam) Hanoi (VNA) – Speaking to the Vietnam News Agency, French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery has said that on the coming traditional Lunar New Year, called Tet in Vietnamese, he wishes to experience a Hanoi different from the bustle capital city with its daily activities.
The diplomat revealed his plan for Vietnam’s longest and most important festival – joining his family in a walk around the Hoan Kiem lake in the heart of the city and the nearby ancient quarters.
Back to the country in September last year, 12 years after his first mission in Vietnam as the French Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Nicolas said he saw many changes here.
On the France – Vietnam cooperation plan for the time to come, the diplomat said in the next 5 years, the French Development Agency will earmark 1 billion EUR for activities in Vietnam, describing cooperation projects with Hanoi as a focus in the cooperative relations between the two countries.
He expressed his wish to go along with Vietnam in dealing with coastal erosion in the Red River delta and the Mekong River delta, highlighting that French companies are joining their Vietnamese partners in transport, energy and clean water supply projects.
About Vietnam’s role as the ASEAN Chair in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term, the diplomat described this as very important for the country.
Vietnam supports multilateralism, UN structures and international law, and those are the values that France totally supports, he said.
As a permanent member of the UNSC, France is ready to closely cooperate with Vietnam in its 2020-2021 term, and hopes to have a more active role to play in ASEAN, the ambassador concluded./.
VNA
