The first-ever visit by a French PM to Vietnam is expected to further deepen the traditional friendship and cooperative relations between Vietnam and France.

Accompanying French PM Francois Fillon during the two-day visit starting Nov. 12 are representatives of 40 leading companies and corporations in energy, space, aviation and transportation, who will attend a business forum in Hanoi to explore trade opportunities.

During PM Fillon’s stay in Vietnam , various cooperation agreements and business contracts will be signed, contributing to a deeper and more comprehensive relations between the two countries.

Since establishment of full diplomatic relations in April 1973, Vietnam and France have regularly exchanged ranking delegations, with the latest being a France visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2007 and French President Jacques Chirac’s visit to Vietnam in 2004.

Vietnam is among a handful of countries that enjoy all three channels of financial support from France , including the official development assistance from France ’s state budget and preferential loans from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Priority Solidarity Fund (FSP).

Vietnam is currently the 7 th leading recipient countries of France ’s ODA. Providing more than 2 billion EUR worth in aid to Vietnam , France is the second largest donor to the country, after Japan .

As for trade relations, France is the third largest trading partner of Vietnam in Europe . Two-day trade between Vietnam and France hit 1.8 billion USD, of which Vietnam exported around 786 million USD of footwear, garment and textile, seafood and gemstones.

France now tops the list of European investors and ranks 13 th out of 88 investing countries and territories in Vietnam with a total capital of more than 3 billion USD in 216 projects.

Education and training remains a priority area of France ’s cooperation with Vietnam . Every year, the government of France provides 80 scholarships for Vietnamese students with a view to developing Vietnam ’s human resources. The number of Vietnamese students in France has increased by 40 percent within the last decade to around 5,000.

Vietnam is also identified as a priority country for cooperation with France in science and technology, particularly in nuclear applications which is set under the framework of an agreement between the Vietnam ’s Atomic Energy Institute and France ’s Atomic Energy Committee./.